US President Donald Trump has announced that he is approving TikTok’s proposed partnership with Oracle and Walmart.
On Friday, we wrote that as of Sunday, Chinese-owned apps TikTok and WeChat would no longer be available on app stores in the US. Then, on the 11th hour, the US president suddenly announced that he is giving TikTok’s partnership deal with the two US companies his “blessing” – approving it “in concept.”
Trump also said that the deal – which still needs to be approved by the Chinese government – would ensure that the data of users in the US would be safe, explaining that “the security will be 100%.”
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Late last month, the president had said that the app (along with WeChat) would be banned in the US, fearing that user data would be shared with China.
— TikTok_Comms (@tiktok_comms) September 19, 2020
The last-minute approval of a deal that would see Oracle becoming TikTok’s “Trusted Technology Partner” in the US doesn’t affect the ban on WeChat, however; it’s also not entirely clear as to whether the ban on TikTok will become effective. The US Commerce Department has, however, say that the deadline has been delayed for a week, until 27 September, “light of recent positive developments.”
TikTok’s Proposed Deal with Oracle & Walmart
If the deal goes ahead, a new company, with US headquarters, called TikTok Global will be created. The company will have a majority of American directors and a US CEO. Furthermore, it would also have a security expert placed on its board.
Oracle and Walmart are expected to have an important stake in the new company, with Trump saying it will be “totally controlled by Oracle and Walmart.” In a joint statement over the weekend, Oracle and Walmart clarified that the combined stake is actually 20% – with Oracle taking 12.5%, and Walmart taking 7.5%.
This is not exactly what the US president was after, but the deal is said to provide more than 25,000 new jobs in the US and pay more than $5bn in taxes.
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