ByteDance to place TikTok's global headquarters in US to escape Trump ban

Beijing, September 16

China's ByteDance has decided to place the headquarters of its popular video platform app TikTok in the US in order to escape President Donald Trump's ban, official media here reported on Wednesday.

As per the plan presented to the US officials by ByteDance, TikTok will remain the majority shareholder of the new US headquartered company, and tech firm Oracle will be a minority shareholder, state-run CGTN TV reported.

Other potential US investors such as the world's largest retailer Walmart, which had launched a joint bid with Microsoft, would own a minority stake, the report said.

People familiar with the negotiation process emphasised that specific details of the plan may change.

Independent third parties will serve as directors of the new company, and ByteDance will continue to control TikTok and its core algorithms.

In order to allay US concerns about "national security", TikTok's data from America will be stored in the US and Oracle will serve as the data service provider, the report said.

"There's also a commitment to create TikTok Global as a US headquartered company with 20,000 new jobs," Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Monday in an interview with CNBC, adding that Oracle will be the trusted technology partner.

ByteDance on Monday said it would not sell TikTok's US operations to Microsoft or Oracle, nor will the company give the source code to any US buyers.

On August 6, Trump issued an executive order stating that TikTok's US business must be sold before September 20, and threatened to block the video app in the US.

TikTok was among the 59 Chinese apps banned by India in June this year saying they were prejudicial to sovereignty, integrity and security of the country. Later India followed up with ban on 118 more Chinese apps. PTI