President Donald Trump announced on Friday that a deal for the TikTok video platform, which would see it controlled by a consortium of U.S. investors, had been approved by Chinese President Xi Jinping. TikTok owner ByteDance also issued a public statement confirming it would work to ensure that TikTok “remains available to American users through TikTok U.S.” The public statements from both leaders come after a period of intense negotiations, but no further official details about the deal were offered at the time.
The deal aims to resolve a long-running saga over the app’s future, which was banned in January over national security concerns. The Trump administration has put the ban on hold multiple times amid backlash from consumers and creators. On his Truth Social account on Friday, Trump confirmed that a call with President Xi was “a very good one” and that “we will be speaking again by phone, appreciate the TikTok approval.”
The Structure of the New TikTok U.S. Entity
While official details remain sparse, a report from The Wall Street Journal confirmed that a consortium of investors, including Oracle, Silver Lake, and Andreessen Horowitz, would hold an 80% stake in the new U.S. TikTok entity. Chinese shareholders would own the remaining 20%. The new company’s board would also be largely from the U.S., with one board member appointed by the U.S. government itself.
A spokesperson for ByteDance thanked both President Xi and President Trump in a statement, saying the company will work “in accordance with applicable laws to ensure TikTok remains available to American users.” The agreement aims to satisfy a national security law that requires ByteDance’s stake to be below 20%. A central point of negotiation has been the fate of TikTok’s valuable content recommendation algorithm, which sources suggest may be licensed to the U.S. entity and retrained on U.S. data.
What The Author Thinks
This deal, while still lacking details, appears to be a pragmatic solution to a complex geopolitical problem. It allows both the U.S. and China to save face while preserving a wildly popular app for American users. The ownership structure and the inclusion of a U.S. government board member are designed to address national security concerns, but the ultimate success of the arrangement will depend on how much control the Chinese parent company, ByteDance, is truly willing to relinquish. This is a story about finding a middle ground in a high-stakes trade war, proving that even in a world of growing tensions, a compromise can be found to protect economic interests and consumer access.
Featured image credit: Collabstr via Unsplash
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