NEW YORK: ByteDance abandoned the sale of TikTok in the US on Sunday to pursue a partnership with Oracle Corp, that it hopes would spare it a US ban while appeasing China’s government,
The Beijing-based company had been in talks to divest TikTok’s US business to Oracle or a consortium led by Microsoft Corp. after US President Donald Trump ordered the sale last month and threatened to shut down the short-video app in the US.
US officials have expressed concerns that user information could be passed to China’s government. TikTok, which has as many as 100 million U.S. users, has said it would not comply with any request to share such data with Chinese authorities.
Under the proposal, Oracle will be ByteDance’s technology partner and assume management of TikTok’s US user data, sources said. Oracle is also negotiating taking a stake in TikTok’s US operations, they added.
Some of ByteDance’s top backers, including investment firms General Atlantic and Sequoia, will also be given minority stakes in TikTok’s US operations under the proposal.