Us And China Sign Off On Tiktok Deal, Sources Say

The U.S. and Chinese governments have signed off on a deal that would hand control of TikTok’s U.S. arm to a group of investors led by tech giant Oracle and investment firm Silver Lake, according to a White House official and a person familiar with the matter.

As part of the agreement, which was outlined in an internal memo sent last month by TikTok CEO Shou Chew, the social media platform would be operated in the U.S. by a joint venture including Oracle and Silver Lake. The move comes in response to a 2024 law requiring Beijing-based parent company ByteDance to sell TikTok to resolve concerns about its alleged ties to the Chinese Communist Party.

Further details of the deal are expected as early as today, according to one of the people, who spoke to POLITICO on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the transaction.

Chew said in December that ByteDance signed a binding agreement with investors that was waiting for regulatory approval. The Trump administration signaled its support for such a deal at the time by pausing a law requiring the White House to ban the app if it was not divested, but the Chinese government had remained cagey.

Reached for comment on Thursday, Chinese embassy spokesperson Liu Pengyu said his country’s “position on TikTok has been consistent and clear” and that he had “no new information to share at the moment."

Under terms outlined in December, owners of the U.S.-based entities would include private equity firm Silver Lake, Abu Dhabi-based artificial intelligence company MGX and Oracle, co-founded by Larry Ellison, an ally of President Donald Trump.

The Trump administration has extended the deadline by which the deal must close multiple times, most recently through Jan. 23.

Oracle, Silver Lake and MGX did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Semafor first reported on the U.S. and China signing off on the transaction.