White House Extends TikTok Sale Deadline To June

The US White House on Friday extended the deadline for a divestiture of TikTok’s US assets by another 75 days, following an initial extension for a requirement that initially was to have taken place on 19 January under a 2024 law.

Reuters reported that a deal had been finalised as of the middle of last week, but was rejected by China after the US announced new tariffs.

Announcing the measure on his Truth Social platform, president Donald Trump said a deal “requires more work to ensure all necessary approvals are signed”.

Deadline extension

The extension will “keep TikTok up and running for an additional 75 days”, he added.

The new deadline is in mid-June.

Trump said the administration hopes to keep working with China on a deal.

TikTok parent ByteDance said it has been in discussions with the US government over a potential deal and noted that any deal would be subject to approval by China.

“An agreement has not been executed. There are key matters to be resolved. Any agreement will be subject to approval under Chinese law,” the company said in an emailed statement.

The negotiations are taking place as the US places escalating tariffs on China and other countries. On Friday China responded in kind with equivalent tariffs on US goods.

Trump had earlier said he would consider cutting tariffs on China in order to seal a deal ahead of the original 5 April divestiture deadline.

Deal rejected

Reuters reported that the structure of a deal was largely finalised by last Wednesday, which would have seen TikTok’s US operations spun off into a new company based in the US and majority owned and operated by US companies, with ByteDance holding a minority position under 20 percent.

China indicated it would not approve the deal after Trump announced new tariffs, the report said, citing unnamed sources.

ByteDance’s largest US-based investors had been negotiating an offer that would have seen them enlarge their existing stakes to take majority ownership of the US spin-off.

General Atlantic, Susquehanna, KKR and Coatue, all existing ByteDance investors, have all been involved in those talks, according to reports by the Financial Times, Reuters and other news outlets.

Susquehanna International Group and General Atlantic are represented on the board of directors of Beijing-based ByteDance and have been leading the discussions, Reuters reported.

Oracle would also take a small stake in the spin-off and would reportedly continue a 2020 deal under which it houses TikTok’s US data in Texas facilities.

Non-sale option

ByteDance would seek to keep a stake in the US operation, but its ownership would be diluted to below the 20 percent threshold required by US law, reports said.

ByteDance strongly prefers this deal over others that are being considered, the FT said.

Under the deal proposed with US investors, Oracle would provide security assurances that TikTok’s US data was not accessible by the Chinese government.

But some politicians, including senator Tom Cotton, have said they will oppose any deal that does not involve a complete divestiture by ByteDance.

The White House, which unusually is directly involved as an intermediary in the negotiations, has said it is in discussions with four distinct groups.

A number of US companies have expressed interest in purchasing TikTok’s US operations, and last week Amazon made a last-minute bid for a deal.