President Donald Trump is preparing to sign an executive order on Thursday that will move the long-anticipated sale of TikTok’s U.S. assets closer to completion, according to a senior White House official.
The order is considered a procedural but significant step toward finalizing the transaction. However, the deal itself is not yet finished. While both U.S. and Chinese officials have expressed alignment on the broad framework, the agreement still requires multiple regulatory approvals in both countries. As of Monday, the roster of American investors backing the deal had not been finalized, the official noted.
What the Executive Order Will Do
The upcoming order will declare that the deal qualifies as a legal divestiture under the bipartisan law enacted last year, which requires TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, to sell around 80% of its U.S. operations to non-Chinese investors. Without such a sale, the law bans TikTok in the United States.
Trump is also expected to grant another 120-day extension on enforcement of the law, giving additional time for the deal to clear paperwork and regulatory hurdles. The pause had already been extended to December 16, meaning that even if signed, ownership transfer may not occur until sometime next year.
Deal Structure and Investors
ByteDance is expected to sign an agreement with one or more American investors this week. Under the current plan, TikTok’s U.S. operations, including a version of its algorithm, would be handed to a new joint venture run by a majority-American board. ByteDance would keep no more than a 20% stake.
Potential investors include Silver Lake, Fox Corp. (led by Lachlan Murdoch), and other U.S. private equity groups. Oracle is set to oversee TikTok’s algorithm, as well as data and privacy protections, ensuring compliance with U.S. security standards.
Key Questions Still Unresolved
Despite progress, several issues remain unclear. One is whether American users will need to download a separate U.S. version of TikTok after the deal closes. Another is the extent to which the platform’s recommendation algorithm — now central to TikTok’s success — will change under American investor control. Critics have raised concerns about potential influence by Trump-aligned investors on content curation.
Still, the deal is expected to safeguard access to the platform for its 170 million U.S. users, preventing a nationwide ban that had been looming since the bipartisan law passed.
Geopolitical Implications
The negotiations are unfolding against a broader geopolitical backdrop. The TikTok deal is expected to be a central topic in the first in-person meeting between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping since Trump’s return to office. The two leaders discussed the matter in a recent phone call and are scheduled to meet at the APEC Summit in South Korea next month.
