United States and Chinese officials announced on Monday they have reached a framework agreement to transfer TikTok to U.S.-controlled ownership - just two days before a 17 September deadline that could have shuttered the app for 170 million American users.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, speaking from the Madrid trade talks, confirmed that "commercial terms have been agreed upon" between two private parties, though he declined to specify ownership structure details.
The framework preserves what Bessent described as TikTok's "Chinese characteristics" while addressing core U.S. security concerns.
It means ByteDance might retain some involvement - but American hands will control operations.
Similar scrutiny could extend to other Chinese-owned applications like WeChat, CapCut, and Temu, creating both regulatory risks and acquisition opportunities across the tech sector.
ByteDance's willingness to negotiate suggests pragmatism, yet Reuters previously reported that if forced to choose between selling with the algorithm or shutting down completely, ByteDance would prefer closure rather than surrender its core technology.
A preservation of "Chinese characteristics" does, however, hint at a compromise on algorithm control.
The TikTok saga has been running for half a decade…
- August 2018 - ByteDance merges Musical.ly with TikTok to create a unified platform
- September 2019 - Concerns emerge over absence of Hong Kong pro-democracy protest content on TikTok
- October 2019 - Senator Marco Rubio requests national security review of ByteDance's Musical.ly acquisition
- August 2020 - Trump signs an executive order requiring ByteDance divestiture, which was later blocked by courts
- September 2020 - Oracle reaches a preliminary partnership deal with TikTok, which ultimately stalled
- 2021 - Biden administration reverses Trump's executive orders, begins new security negotiations
- April 2024 - Congress passes the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act
- April 2024 - Biden signs law giving ByteDance nine months to divest U.S. operations
- 17 January 2025 - Supreme Court upholds divestiture law, rejecting First Amendment challenges
- 18 January 2025 - TikTok goes dark for 14 hours as ban takes effect
- 20 January 2025 - Trump signs an executive order delaying enforcement by 75 days
- April 2025 - Trump extends the deadline again by 75 days
- June 2025 - Third extension granted, setting 17 September cutoff
- 15 September 2025 - Framework agreement announced during Madrid trade talks
Oracle to step up to the plate?
Oracle Executive Chairman Larry Ellison is the likely buyer. The man who briefly became the world's richest person last week after his company's shares rocketed 36% in a single day has been circling TikTok since Trump's first presidency.
Ellison is at an advantage as tech giant Oracle already hosts TikTok's U.S. data through its existing partnership.
A further silver lining is that the company's cloud computing division could also benefit massively from any TikTok ownership structure.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are set to finalise the arrangement in a Friday call.
