Everything you need to know about the U.S. president Donald Trump’s TikTok deal

U.S. president Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday that allows TikTok to keep operating in the country, under a new American-controlled joint venture framework agreement.

The order has been issued in line with the requirements of the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act. While the order does not disclose financial terms, US Vice President JD Vance said the deal values the company at about $14 billion.

What is the TikTok deal?

Under the agreement, a joint venture will be majority-owned by a series of U.S. investors and overseen by a board with national security and cybersecurity expertise that will own and operate TikTok.

The order does not give out names of possible investors and those who will sit on the board. However, what is sure is that this board will include members who have a government connection to ensure data security.

Bidders for TikTok in the past included Amazon; private equity giant Blackstone in partnership with Susquehanna International Group and General Atlantic; venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz and Oracle; and Startup Zoop, a company founded by OnlyFans creator Stokely.

Under this deal, ByteDance will hold less than 20% equity, with limited governance rights, and be excluded from the security committee.

Meanwhile, in a first-of-its-kind move, full control of TikTok’s algorithm, source code, and content moderation will be handed over to the new US joint venture.

The transfer marks a major shift, giving American investors access to the proprietary technology that fuelled TikTok’s explosive growth in the country. This will allow the 170 million U.S. users to continue accessing TikTok.

However, Trump will continue to hold the right to issue further orders if needed to protect national security, signalling more whimsical possibilities of decisions.

What role does Oracle play?

While none of the investors have been identified in the latest order, it does reveal that Larry Ellison’s Oracle will have a critical role to play in TikTok’s operations now, hinting at a possible Oracle stake in the JV that will own the short-form video platform.

The order stated that Oracle will serve as the technology and security provider, ensuring U.S. user data remains stored on domestic cloud infrastructure and monitoring algorithms, software updates, and data flows.

When will the order be implemented?

Previously, on September 16, Trump had issued a fourth executive order extending the deadline for TikTok’s U.S. shutdown to December 16.

However, the order will take effect only after four months, beyond the December deadline.

“To permit the contemplated divestiture to be completed, the Attorney General shall not take any action on behalf of the United States to enforce the Act for 120 days from the date of this order.  During this period, the Department of Justice shall take no action to enforce the Act or impose any penalties against any entity for any noncompliance with the Act, including for distributing, maintaining, or updating (or enabling the distribution, maintenance, or updating of) any foreign adversary-controlled application as defined in the Act,” the order stated.