Computer software company Oracle has won the bidding for TikTok’s US operations, a source told the Wall Street Journal.
It comes a week before President Donald Trump promises to follow through with a plan to ban the Chinese-owned app in the US.
A person familiar with the matter told the WSJ that Oracle will be announced TikTok’s ‘trusted tech partner’ in America. They added it is unlikely to be an outright sale.
ByteDance will need approval for the deal from governments of the United States and China.
US officials have criticized the app’s security and privacy, suggesting that user data might be shared with Beijing. TikTok has said it would not comply with any request to share user data with the Chinese authorities.
Oracle will handle TikTok’s US user data, the source added.
The deal will be structured not as a sale but as a restructuring, the source said, without disclosing how much of TikTok’s US operations ByteDance and its investors will continue to own.