Oracle, Silver Lake & Abu Dhabi’s MGX will be main investors in TikTok’s U.S. business, sources told CNBC’s David Faber on Thursday.
Those three entities will control roughly 45% of TikTok USA, Faber reported. ByteDance, TikTok’s Chinese parent, will own 19.9%, with the remaining 35% in the hands of ByteDance investors and new holders.
President Donald Trump will sign an executive order on Thursday backing the proposed deal that will keep the social media app running in the U.S. ByteDance has faced an ultimatum under a federal law requiring it to either divest the platform’s American business or be shut down in the U.S. That law passed with bipartisan support from members of Congress who expressed national security concerns about the app and its potent content algorithm.
Last week, Trump signed an executive order delaying the divestiture deadline until Dec. 16.
Trump has been trying to keep the app afloat, repeatedly mentioning how important it was to his presidential victory in November. Billionaire Republican megadonor Jeff Yass is a major ByteDance investor through Susquehanna, and he also owns a stake in the owner of Truth Social, Trump’s social media company.
Backers of ByteDance, including General Atlantic, Susquehanna and Sequoia, are expected to contribute equity in the new TikTok USA, sources told Faber.
The deal does not involve the federal government taking an equity stake or a so-called golden share in TikTok’s U.S. operations, CNBC reported Monday. The new joint venture will have a board of directors comprised of a majority of American members, and Oracle will oversee the app’s security operations.
Trump said on Sunday that conservative media baron Rupert Murdoch and his son Lachlan Murdoch could be involved in the TikTok deal as well as Oracle Executive Chairman Larry Ellison and Dell Technologies CEO Michael Dell.
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