TikTok buyers to include Oracle, Silver Lake and Andreessen

NEW YORK – TikTok’s US operations would be acquired by an investor consortium that includes Oracle, Andreessen Horowitz and private equity firm Silver Lake Management under a framework deal that US President Donald Trump is set to discuss with Chinese President Xi Jinping later this week.

The tentative agreement, unveiled on Sept 15 by senior US and Chinese officials after two days of talks in Madrid, would create a US-based version of the popular social media app, with Oracle, Andreessen and Silver Lake all holding stakes in the new venture, according to people familiar with the matter. 

Under the deal, ByteDance’s stake in TikTok would be reduced to below 20 per cent to satisfy a US national security law passed in 2024 that required the Beijing-based company to divest or face a ban of the app in the US market.

If completed, with the blessing of Mr Trump and Mr Xi, the transaction would allow the video sharing platform to keep operating in the US and remove a sticking point in US-China relations. 

The deal calls for Oracle to continue providing cloud services for TikTok in the US, a business that has become a steady source of revenue for the Austin-based company.

Oracle already works with TikTok to host user data in the US and other countries as part of a multibillion-dollar partnership that TikTok has dubbed Project Texas.

Oracle shares rose as much as 5.9 per cent in New York on Sept 16, before giving up most of those gains. The stock is up 84 per cent so far this year thanks to its ascendant cloud infrastructure business.

It is unclear how much each prospective investor would acquire under the deal.

Oracle, for instance, plans to take a small stake in the new venture, according to one of the people.

A senior White House official said that any details of the framework agreement should be regarded as speculation unless announced by the administration. Representatives for TikTok, Oracle, Andreessen and Silver Lake did not respond to requests for comment.  

The fate of TikTok’s lucrative recommendation software – which steers videos to users based on their viewing preferences – remains unclear.

A Chinese official said after the talks that ByteDance would license its algorithm to the American operation, while the US side declined to offer details.

The law signed in 2024 by then President Joe Biden stipulates that ByteDance cannot have any operational role, including with the algorithm, once a sale is completed.

Under the agreement, new outside investors would own 50 per cent of TikTok’s US business in a unit that would be spun off from ByteDance.

ByteDance’s existing US investors would own about 30 per cent of the new business, cutting the Chinese firm’s stake to just below 20 per cent and allowing it to meet the ownership requirements of the US security law.

The plan largely tracks with a proposal that had come close to an agreement with ByteDance earlier in 2025 but was derailed when China withheld its approval following Mr Trump’s decision in April to impose sweeping tariffs on the world’s second-largest economy. 

TikTok’s future became entangled in the broader negotiations between Washington and Beijing over trade.

Had there been no agreement on TikTok, any in-person meeting between Mr Trump and Mr Xi later in 2025 would have been off the table, according to a US official.

On Sept 16, Mr Trump told reporters he had “a deal on TikTok” with the Chinese as he departed the White House for a state visit to Britain, but declined to name the companies involved.

“I’m going to speak to President Xi on Friday to confirm everything up,” he said. “We made a very good trade deal, and I hope good for both countries.”

Specific terms of the agreement, and whether it would satisfy the requirements of the national security law, remain unclear.

But the will to challenge Mr Trump legally or politically over his approach to TikTok has waned.

The President has credited the app with boosting his popularity among younger voters and sealing his comeback election win in November. 

To buy time for the transaction to be completed, Mr Trump postponed the deadline for ByteDance to divest TikTok’s US operations.

Under the extension announced on Sept 16 – the fourth granted since January – the company has until Dec 16 to forge a deal before a nationwide ban sets in.

Mr Trump granted the reprieve even though the 2024 law allows for only one 90-day extension.

That posture has defied bipartisan consensus behind the divest-or-ban provision – and has raised questions about whether the President’s repeated extensions have been legally sound. 

Sept 16’s extension means TikTok can continue operating in the US while the administration takes more time to strike an accord with ByteDance on a “qualified divestiture” to a non-Chinese owner.

Partners like Apple and Alphabet’s Google can also continue hosting the popular video app in their online stores. BLOOMBERG