Trump signs off on TikTok deal that puts US app's value at $14 billion

WASHINGTON ‒ President Donald Trumpsigned an executive order to help finalize the sale of TikTok's U.S. operations to an American investor group and keep the popular video app operating in the country.

“We have American investors taking it over, running it, highly sophisticated," Trump said Sept. 25 in signing the order.

Vice President JD Vance, who helped shepherd the deal, said it protects Americans' data security and is good for investors. The company will be valued at $14 billion, he said.

White House officials said earlier this week that TikTok had reached a preliminary deal to keep operating in the United States.

The agreement, which the Trump administration has worked on for months, would spin off Beijing-based TikTok's American operations to a new joint venture composed of majority American ownership. Oracle, a U.S.-based technology firm, would serve as TikTok's security provider for its American operations.

Under the arrangement, TikTok's algorithm would move under the control of the new U.S. joint venture. Oracle would be in charge of inspecting and monitoring the algorithm to make sure it's not used for any "malicious purpose," an official said.

U.S. officials in multiple administrations have expressed concerns that TikTok poses a national security threat, alleging ByteDance is sharing American user data with China. TikTok has repeatedly denied these claims.

Former President Joe Biden signed a law in 2024 banning TikTok in the United States unless Beijing-based parent company, ByteDance, divested its U.S. holdings. Trump, however, has extended the sell-or-ban deadline three times in his second presidential term.