China’s ByteDance is planning a US initial public offering of TikTok Global, the new company that will operate the popular short-video app, should its proposed deal be cleared by the US government, people familiar with the matter said on Thursday.
ByteDance is racing to clinch an agreement with the White House that will stave off a US ban on TikTok that President Donald Trump has threatened could happen as early as next week.
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Trump ordered ByteDance last month to divest TikTok amid US concerns that the personal data of as many as 100 million Americans who use the app could be passed on to China’s Communist Party government.
On Wednesday, he reiterated he was opposed to ByteDance retaining majority ownership of TikTok.
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The White House and ByteDance have agreed to a term sheet on some aspects of a deal, although Trump has not yet approved it, one of the sources said. Top ByteDance US investors, Oracle and potentially Walmart would hold at least a 60% stake in TikTok’s US operations, the source said.
White House chief of staff Mark Meadows said the situation was still fluid. “There’s no definite proposal that the president’s being asked to consider or reject at this point,” Meadows told reporters.
Reuters
