Catenaa, Monday, September 22, 2025- Oracle would recreate and provide security for a new US version of TikTok’s algorithm under a deal taking shape to sell the popular Chinese-owned app to a consortium of US investors.
The arrangement, outlined by the White House official in a statement Monday, seeks to ensure that the American buyers control TikTok’s recommendation software in the US following a divestiture by its Chinese parent, ByteDance Ltd.
Owners of the US-based TikTok would lease a copy of the algorithm from ByteDance that Oracle would then retrain “from the ground up,” a white house official told Bloomberg.
Oracle share rose by 0.5% on Monday morning, and the share has risen by more than 31% since August 22, with the news of owning TikTok breaking out.
Data from US users would be stored in a secure cloud managed by Oracle with controls established to keep out foreign adversaries, including China, the official said.
Beijing-based ByteDance would not have access to information on TikTok’s US subscribers, nor would it have any control over the algorithm in the US.
“Oracle, the US security partner, will operate, retrain, and continuously monitor the US algorithm to ensure content is free from improper manipulation or surveillance,” according to a Q&A accompanying the official’s comments.
TikTok’s algorithm has long been a complicating factor for any deal. The US law mandating a TikTok sale forbids ByteDance from any operational role in a new US app, including with the software.
Under the deal, Oracle will operate in partnership with the US government on everything from algorithm retraining to application development and source code review, the White House official said.
Trump intends to sign an executive order this week to formalize his approval of the transaction, the White House official said.
To buy more time for the deal, Trump plans to extend by an additional 120 days the deadline for ByteDance to divest, the White House official said. Trump had signed an order last week extending the deadline by 90 days to mid-December.
Under the agreement, the official said, the new US venture would be majority owned by unspecified US investors, with ByteDance’s stake falling below 20% to comply with the law requiring it to relinquish control.
Six of the seven seats on the US-based TikTok’s board would be held by Americans, the official said, without providing names of the directors. ByteDance would hold the final board seat, but it would be excluded from the new company’s security committee.
