President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday approving his plan to transfer TikTok’s U.S. operations to American and global investors. The move is aimed at satisfying national security requirements under a 2024 law that threatened to ban the app unless its Chinese owners sold it.
Vice President JD Vance said the new U.S. company will be valued at about $14 billion, far lower than some analyst estimates.
Trump also delayed enforcement of the ban until January 20 to give more time to finalise the deal, extract TikTok’s U.S. assets from the global platform, secure American and international investors, and win approval from China.
The order signals progress on the sale, though major questions remain, including how the new U.S. entity will handle TikTok’s most valuable asset, its recommendation algorithm.
“There was some resistance on the Chinese side,” Vance said at an Oval Office briefing. “But the fundamental thing we wanted was to keep TikTok running while protecting Americans’ data privacy.”
Trump’s order says the algorithm will be retrained, monitored by U.S. security partners, and operated under the new joint venture’s control. Trump also said he spoke directly with Chinese President Xi Jinping, who gave the plan his approval. “We had a good talk,” Trump said. “He said go ahead with it.”
Neither the Chinese embassy in Washington nor TikTok immediately commented.
TikTok has 170 million U.S. users. Trump credits the platform with helping his reelection last year and has 15 million followers himself. The White House launched an official TikTok account last month.
“This is going to be American-operated all the way,” Trump said. He added that Dell founder Michael Dell, media mogul Rupert Murdoch, and “four or five absolutely world-class investors” would take part in the deal.
The White House did not explain how it reached the $14 billion valuation. ByteDance, TikTok’s Chinese parent company, is valued at over $330 billion and TikTok makes up only a small share of its revenue. Analysts at Wedbush Securities estimated in April that TikTok without its algorithm could be worth $30 billion to $40 billion.
Alan Rozenshtein, a University of Minnesota law professor, said the order left key questions unanswered, including how much control ByteDance would retain over the algorithm.
Chinese media have also reported a different version of events, suggesting ByteDance will still play a major role. LatePost reported that ByteDance will set up a new U.S. company to handle TikTok’s e-commerce, branding, and global operations, while the joint venture valued at $14 billion will focus on U.S. digital security and local operations. Caixin, another Chinese outlet, reported that the U.S. entity would still send some revenue back to ByteDance.
Neither the White House nor ByteDance responded to those reports.
Who Will Own TikTok U.S.
According to two sources familiar with the deal, Oracle and private-equity firm Silver Lake will take a roughly 50 percent stake in TikTok U.S. Existing ByteDance shareholders, including Susquehanna International Group, General Atlantic, and KKR, will hold about 30 percent.
CNBC earlier reported that Abu Dhabi-based MGX, Oracle, and Silver Lake together plan to own 45 percent of TikTok U.S. MGX did not immediately comment.
Republican lawmakers said they want to see more details to ensure a clean break from China. “We must ensure this deal protects American users from the influence and surveillance of CCP-aligned groups,” said Representatives Brett Guthrie, Gus Bilirakis, and Richard Hudson.
A senior White House official said ByteDance will appoint one of seven board members for the new U.S. entity, with Americans holding the other six seats. ByteDance’s stake in TikTok U.S. will be under 20 percent to comply with the 2024 law that required it to sell U.S. assets or face a ban by January 2025.
