NEW DELHI: It seems that the Byte Dance owned short video platform TikTok has got a breather in the US after the president had ordered the app to be banned in the region, citing national security concerns.
During the weekend, President Donald Trump gave his nod to a multiparty deal ‘in concept’, under which TikTok will be partly owned by Oracle and Walmart. Media reports say that TikTok is seeking a valuation of 60 billion dollars of. Oracle will hold 12.5 per cent and Walmart will hold 7.5 per cent stake. Sequoia Capital and General Atlantic, already investors in TikTok’s Chinese owner ByteDance, are also expected to take stakes in the new company.
“I have given the deal my blessing. If they get it done that’s great. If they don’t, that’s OK too,” Trump told reporters Saturday. “I approved the deal in concept.”
TikTok and ByteDance both welcomed President Trump's approval of a proposed deal, which would still need to be signed off by the Chinese government.
TikTok said the deal would ensure US national security requirements were fully satisfied, while ByteDance said it was working to reach an agreement that was "in line with the US and Chinese law" as soon as possible.
TikTok interim chief executive Vanessa Pappas said in a video posted on Saturday that the app was "here to stay" in the US.
#WeAreTikTok and we are here to stay! pic.twitter.com/AaA8OhpvGx
— TikTok (@tiktok_us) September 19, 2020
President Trump's support for the deal comes days after his administration said it would bar people in the US from downloading TikTok through any app store starting 20 September.
The deal is more like a joint venture between three companies where Oracle will be acting as a "trusted partner" safeguarding the data of users. If one looks closely at the newly proposed deal, it is not what president Trump has initially demanded as it still allows TikTok's Chinese owner Bytedance a controlling stake.
It is expected that TikTok Global will likely be headquartered in Texas and will hire “at least” 25,000 people, Trump said. TikTok will need to recruit thousands of content moderators, engineers and marketing staff that were previously located in China and around the world.
At present, the ban on TikTok has been delayed by a week by the US authorities.
For the record, the app has been already banned in India by the Indian government along with several other Chinese apps.
