Trump Backs TikTok Deal; Divest Deadline 2026

President Trump signed an executive order backing a proposed sale and restructuring of TikTok’s U.S. operations to a U.S.-led investor group and pushed the law’s divest-or-ban enforcement deadline into January 2026 so the app can continue operating while the transaction is finalized. Reports say the consortium, led by Oracle with partners including Silver Lake, MGX and investors tied to Larry Ellison, Michael Dell and Rupert Murdoch, would control roughly 45–50% of the new U.S. entity, while ByteDance and existing investors would retain a reduced minority stake. The plan reportedly contemplates ByteDance leasing TikTok’s recommendation algorithm to the U.S. company rather than fully transferring algorithms and source code, a detail critics say could leave potential Chinese influence despite legal safeguards. The administration values the deal at about $14 billion, a figure many analysts dispute as substantially low. Key details — the final investor roster and exact ownership split, the extent of algorithm and security oversight, and formal approvals from ByteDance and Chinese authorities — remain unresolved.