United States President Donald Trump has signed an executive order outlining his administration’s plan to sell TikTok’s American operations to a consortium of US and global investors, marking a significant step towards resolving the app’s regulatory challenges.
The executive order, signed on Thursday, requires potential buyers to meet stringent national security requirements under the 2024 legislation that would otherwise ban the Chinese-owned social media platform from American markets.
Vice President James Vance announced during an Oval Office briefing that the newly formed US entity would carry “a valuation of around $14 billion.”
“We actually think this is a good deal for investors, but they will make a determination about what they want to invest and what they think is the proper value,” Vance told reporters on Thursday.
The White House has extended the law’s enforcement deadline to 20th January, providing additional time for transaction completion, investor commitments, and negotiations with Chinese authorities.
Whilst the executive order demonstrates tangible progress towards divesting TikTok’s US assets, several critical details remain unresolved, particularly regarding the platform’s most valuable component – its recommendation algorithm.
“There was some resistance on the Chinese side, but the fundamental thing that we wanted to accomplish is that we wanted to keep TikTok operating, but we also wanted to make sure that we protected Americans’ data privacy as required by law,” Vance explained.
According to the order, the algorithm will undergo retraining and monitoring by the US company’s security partners, with operational control transferred to the new joint venture structure.
Trump revealed that Chinese President Xi Jinping had expressed approval for the proposed arrangements during recent discussions.
“I spoke with President Xi. We had a good talk, I told him what we were doing, and he said go ahead with it,” the President stated.
Neither the Chinese embassy in Washington nor TikTok representatives provided immediate comment on the executive order.
The social media platform, which boasts 170 million American users, has been credited by Trump as instrumental in his recent electoral success. The President maintains 15 million followers on his personal TikTok account, whilst the White House launched its official presence on the platform last month.
“This is going to be American-operated all the way,” Trump emphasised.
The proposed investor group includes technology mogul Michael Dell, founder, chairman and chief executive of Dell Technologies, and media executive Rupert Murdoch, chairman emeritus of Fox Corp and News Corp. Trump indicated that “probably four or five absolutely world-class investors” would participate in the acquisition.
