Oracle and a range of investors appear to be close to taking ownership of TikTok’s U.S. operations. Of course this assumes that the deal gets approval from President Donald Trump. And The Chinese don’t stop it. Here’s what Bloomberg had to say:
The Treasury Department, TikTok owner ByteDance Ltd. and Oracle Corp. have tentatively agreed to terms for Oracle’s bid for the U.S. operations of the social-media service, according to people familiar with the matter.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin sent Bytedance a revised terms sheet late Wednesday and the company and Oracle accepted it, the people said. They described the changes as addressing national security concerns about the transaction and asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter.
And:
Any deal needs to be approved by both Trump — who could still reject the transaction — and the Chinese government, where officials have accused the U.S. of “economic bullying.”
White House senior adviser Jared Kushner is aware of the revised terms but hasn’t reviewed the latest details in depth and hasn’t weighed in on whether Trump should sign off on the deal, one person familiar with the matter said.
This should prove interesting. While this seems like we are near the end of this saga, we’re not. Trump might wake up one morning, see something on his Twitter feed that angers him, and nuke the deal. Or the Chinese may stop it. So watch this space as this story is sure to develop further.