DONALD Trump has signed an executive order laying the groundwork for China to hand over TikTok to US owners following “very good talks” with Xi Jinping.
Dealmaster Don said he had come to an agreement with the Chinese leader following years of speculation surrounding the fate of the beloved $14billion social media giant.
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In a major U-turn by Beijing – who once slammed the idea of giving TikTok to Washington as “robbery” – Chinese officials have now agreed to hand over the prized platform.
The landmark deal will separate the popular video-sharing hub from its Chinese parent company ByteDance – in a key step allowing TikTok to keep operating in America.
Trump said the agreement would comply with a bipartisan law that would have forced the app’s shutdown if it was not divested and sold to a US owner.
The US President said: “I spoke with President Xi and he said: ‘Go ahead with it.’
“This is going to be American-operated all the way.”
The groundbreaking plan will see US investors oversee the vast majority of TikTok‘s operations.
A coalition of American owners are expected to take charge of 80 per cent of the app – while Chinese investors will have a 20 per cent stake.
They will also gain a licensed copy of the cutting-edge recommendation algorithm retrained solely with US data.
The controversial digital recipe which shows users content based on their preferences previously stirred alarming concern among US officials.
China hawks warned the ByteDance-crafted algorithm could be weaponised by the CCP to influence content seen by hundreds of millions of Americans every day.
But US officials have failed to present any evidence proving China has ever attempted to do so.
The new US version of the spun off firm will be valued at $14billion, US Vice President JD Vance said.
But the new figure doesn’t compare to ByteDance’s overall valuation, which is estimated to stand at a staggering $330billion.
TikTok’s social media arch nemesis Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, is valued at $1.8trillion.
The new investing team will be spearheaded by US software giant Oracle.
The firm will oversee US operations for TikTok, provide cloud service for user data storage and obtain the elusive algorithm license.
The alliance of investors is set to include Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, News Corp owner Rupert Murdoch and Dell CEO Michael Dell.
Trump said of the potential new owners: “Great investors. The biggest. They don’t get bigger.”
Vance said more details about who is involved in the huge deal will be announced over the coming days.
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The deal seemingly puts to bed months of legal limbo for the massively popular app, which is said to host some 180 million US users.
Trump has even credited TikTok with helping him win the 2024 presidential election – as part of his gamechanging social media campaign.
ByteDance and TikTok once faced widespread concerns from US lawmakers over national security and data privacy.
US officials alleged China could use the app to shape messaging and ultimately spread propaganda in an effort to undermine US democracy.
TikTok denied the claims, but Congress collectively agreed to force ByteDance to find a US buyer after a historic vote last year.
The supreme court unanimously upheld the ban in January – before Trump signed an executive order on his first day in office to postpone its removal from the US.
The US President also hinted at TikTok’s secure future last week, writing on Truth Social: “A deal was also reached on a ‘certain’ company that young people in our Country very much want to save.
“They will be very happy!”
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