The popular TikTok app, which streams short videos and has some 100 million users in the United States, will be able to stay in the country. US President Donald Trump gave the green light on Saturday, September 19, to the Oracle and Walmart project concerning the activities of the Chinese application TikTok on American soil. The company, a subsidiary of a Chinese group, confirmed shortly after preparing a project involving Oracle as a technology partner in the United States and Walmart as a business partner.
“I gave my approval to the deal. If they make it happen, so much the better. If this is not the case, that will also be fine ”, said the Republican president, before departing for a campaign rally in North Carolina. He clarified that “Security will be 100%” and that companies will use “Separate servers”. “Conceptually, this is a great deal for America. “
Called TikTok Global, the company would be based in the United States and would hire 25,000 people, Oracle and Walmart said in a separate statement. Oracle could buy 12.5% of the shares of TikTok and Walmart 7.5%, before a future entry on the New York Stock Exchange, expected within a year.
ByteDance would keep the rest of the capital, a source familiar with the matter told Agence France-Presse (AFP). But since the Chinese company is 40% owned by American investors, the majority of the application would pass in fine under the American flag.
A seat in Texas included in the agreement
The Oracle IT group would be responsible for hosting all US user data and the security of associated IT systems. “We are 100% confident in our ability to provide a highly secure environment for TikTok and ensure the privacy of data for US TikTok users and users around the world.”Oracle CEO Safra Catz said in a statement.
Walmart would provide its online shopping, order management and payment services, while its chief executive, Doug McMillon, would become one of five members of the board.
The agreement provides, according to the US president, the creation of a headquarters in Texas for a company “Which will have nothing to do with China” but will continue to be called TikTok.
The companies involved will, moreover, “A donation of around 5 billion dollars [4,2 milliards d’euros] “ for “The education of young Americans”added Donald Trump, who had insisted that the government be paid for authorizing the agreement.
In response to this announcement, the US Department of Commerce has decided to postpone at least until September 27 the ban on downloading the popular TikTok application in the United States. A decision made “In view of recent positive developments”, says a press release.
A delay until November 12
The tenant of the White House has been claiming for weeks that TikTok, whose parent company is the Chinese company ByteDance, is spying on behalf of Beijing, without having made any evidence public.
In early August, he issued a decree giving ByteDance until September 20, i.e. Sunday, to cede TikTok’s activities on American soil to an American company. Washington, however, had left a door open to the application by leaving it until November 12 before completely prohibiting him from operating on its soil. If it materializes, such an outcome could make it possible to extinguish one of the many fires currently smoldering between Washington and Beijing.
