China’s ByteDance Ltd. would retain a majority ownership stake in its TikTok app unit as part of a proposal being reviewed by national-security regulators, with an eye toward settling the high-profile deal by a deadline Sunday, according to a person familiar with the situation.
The Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., known as Cfius, which includes officials from the Treasury, State, Commerce and other departments, reviewed the deal late Tuesday afternoon but didn’t immediately announce a recommendation.
The proposal includes Oracle Corp.’s ORCL, +2.48% bid to become TikTok’s U.S. technology partner as part of an effort to address the administration’s national-security concerns surrounding the Chinese-owned video-sharing app.
The deal would make Oracle the U.S. technology partner of TikTok, while allowing TikTok’s parent company, Beijing-based ByteDance, to retain a majority ownership stake, according to the person familiar with the deal. TikTok’s global business would also become a company based in the U.S. that would remain a unit of ByteDance, the person said, adding that Oracle would take a minority stake in that company.
President Donald Trump said at the White House on Tuesday that his administration would make a decision on the pending deal “pretty soon,” adding that he has “high respect” for Oracle Chairman Larry Ellison. “I heard they’re very close to a deal,” Trump said without elaborating.
An expanded version of this report appears on WSJ.com.
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