Trump to Sign Executive Order for TikTok on Thursday

TikTok had 66 million daily average U.S. users in the third quarter. (AFP via Getty Images)

Key Points

About This Summary

• President Trump will sign an executive order to legally justify the split of TikTok into U.S. and international versions.
• The U.S. TikTok will be majority U.S.-owned, with ByteDance holding less than 20% ownership in the joint venture.
• TikTok had 66 million daily average U.S. users in the third quarter, ranking fourth among social media apps.

On Thursday, President Donald Trump will sign an executive order that will be another step toward splitting the Chinese viral video app, TikTok, into U.S. and international versions.

A 2024 law required that unless TikTok’s owner, ByteDance, divested the app by last January, U.S. app stores had to stop listing it. Seeking a deal to split the app instead, Trump has issued several pauses in enforcement, most recently last week. A deal seems to be getting closer.

Thursday’s EO will provide legal justification, declaring “that the terms of this deal meet America’s national security needs, and that it’s going to constitute a qualified divestiture under the law,” according to a senior White House official at a Monday press briefing.

The senior official also told reporters to soon expect a signed framework agreement between ByteDance and “managing investors” on the U.S. side, but it is unclear whether that will also happen on Thursday.

The White House said that the U.S. TikTok will be owned by a joint venture in which ByteDance will have less than 20% ownership. The shares will be majority U.S.-owned, and likewise the board will have an American majority. Importantly, the new U.S. TikTok will get access to ByteDance’s industry-leading recommendation engine that picks the next video for users to watch, though important details remain unclear.

The White House says that U.S. investors in the joint venture will include Oracle and Silverlake, a private-equity firm, and that Oracle will continue to provide U.S. cloud services.

According to new data from Sensor Tower, TikTok had 66 million daily average U.S. users in the third quarter, putting it in fourth place among social media apps behind Google’s YouTube and Meta’s Facebook and Instagram. U.S. daily user counts rose very quickly from 2019 to 2023, but growth has stagnated since then.

Write to Adam Levine at adam.levine@barrons.com