President Donald Trump late Thursday signed an executive order backing a plan to allow TikTok to remain in the U.S. through a sale to new investors. Oracle is "playing a very big part," Trump said at a White House news conference. Oracle stock fell Thursday.
The executive order declares that the sale of TikTok's U.S. operations would satisfy the requirements of a 2024 law banning the short-video app unless its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, divests ownership. Details for that deal are still not finalized. But Vice President JD Vance said at the news conference that the sale will value TikTok at about $14 billion and include data security protections. American investors will control the algorithm that recommends content on TikTok, Vance added.
The Trump administration will release more details about the investor group in the coming days, Vance added. TikTok did not immediately return a request for comment on the executive order. Trump said during a White House news conference that he has the "go ahead" from Chinese President Xi Jinping for the deal.
Oracle, Silver Lake and Abu Dhabi-based investment group MGX are each expected to take a roughly 15% stake in the new TikTok U.S., according to reports earlier Thursday by CNBC and Bloomberg, which cited unnamed sources.
TikTok remains available for Americans under a temporary enforcement reprieve from the law banning the short-video app. Trump has delayed enforcement of the law on four separate occasions, including earlier this month.
The White House has been working to broker a deal that would bring ByteDance's ownership of TikTok's U.S. operations to below 20%, as required by the law.
Previous backers of ByteDance would also contribute equity to the new U.S. TikTok, according to CNBC. That list includes investment firms General Atlantic, Susquehanna and Sequoia. Oracle would oversee TikTok's U.S. data and maintain its video-recommendation algorithm, according to CNBC.
Oracle Stock Falls In Thursday Trading
Meanwhile, Oracle stock fell 5.5% to close at 291.34 on the stock market today. Shares gained more than 1% in after-hours trading following Trump's news conference, however.
Thursday's decline continued a pullback for Oracle after its earnings report fueled a big rally earlier this month. Shares are down 5% for the week, despite a 6% gain on Monday after the company named a pair of chief executives to replace previous leader Safra Catz, who shifted to executive vice chair of Oracle's board.
Oracle sold $18 billion worth of investment-grade bonds late Wednesday as the company scales up its AI buildout efforts.
Separately, analysts with Rothschild initiated coverage of Oracle stock earlier today with a sell rating, reportedly telling clients that investors are "overestimating the value of Oracle's contracted cloud revenue."
Oracle stock is ahead 75% overall year to date, with a roughly 29% gain since the start of the month.
