ByteDance deal for US TikTok said to give Oracle access to source code, includes plan for IPO in a year
- Terms of the proposed deal would give Oracle full access to TikTok’s source code and updates
The new US company that TikTok’s owner Bytedance Ltd. plans to form with Oracle Corp. intends to hold an initial public offering in about a year, according to people familiar with the matter.
The new company, which would be called TikTok Global, according to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, will be the result of a transaction forced by President Donald Trump last month because of national security concerns about TikTok’s Chinese ownership. Bloomberg News reported earlier that the Treasury Department, Bytedance and Oracle agreed to terms for the deal late Wednesday.
Mnuchin sent Bytedance a revised terms sheet late Wednesday and the company and Oracle accepted it. People familiar with the matter described the government’s changes as addressing national security concerns about the transaction and asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter.
As he left the White House for a campaign trip to Wisconsin, Trump told reporters that administration officials had spoken with the companies in the deal on Thursday but did not elaborate.
“We spoke today, to Walmart, Oracle, I guess Microsoft is still involved, we’ll make a decision but nothing much has changed.”
ByteDance rejected Microsoft Corp.’s bid for the US operations of TikTok last weekend, and a person familiar with the company said Thursday night that it was no longer involved in talks related to TikTok.