President Donald Trump on Thursday afternoon signed an executive order clearing the way for a deal to put TikTok in U.S. hands, with some of his closest billionaire allies poised to take the reins.
“This is going to be American-operated all the way,” Trump said during the signing, adding that the agreement had been green-lit by Chinese President Xi Jinping. “I have great respect for President Xi, and I very much appreciate that he approved the deal, because to get it done properly, we really needed the support of China and the approval of China.”
Who’s in the deal
The ownership structure is still being finalized, but Trump revealed that Oracle and its cofounder Larry Ellison would play a “big” role in managing the app, given that Oracle already stores much of TikTok’s U.S.-based data on its servers. Ellison has been an ally of the president, raising millions for his campaign and advising him during the COVID-19 pandemic.Trump added that conservative media mogul Rupert Murdoch, the owner of Fox Corp.—which runs Fox News—would be an investor, and computer billionaire Michael Dell would sit on the board. He hinted that three more “blue-chip” backers were also part of the group, but did not announce who they were.
