ByteDance Ltd, the Chinese owner of TikTok is seeking a valuation of $60 billion for the App as Oracle Corp and Walmart Inc take stakes in the short-video app’s business to address U.S. security concerns, according to reports.
ByteDance was pressured into a deal for TikTok when President Trump threatened to ban the App in the U.S. over national security concerns.
Oracle and Walmart have rights to buy 12.5% and 7.5% respectively of a newly established TikTok Global under an agreement that won the approval of President Donald Trump.
The two companies would pay a combined $12 billion for their stakes if they agree to a $60 billion asking price.
Donald Trump said on Saturday that he supported a deal in principle which would allow TikTok to continue to operate in the United States, even as it appeared to conflict with his earlier executive order for China’s ByteDance to divest the video app.
ByteDance was racing to avoid a crackdown on TikTok after the U.S. Commerce Department said on Friday that it would block new downloads and updates to the app from Sunday.
U.S. officials had expressed concern that the personal data of as many as 100 million Americans that use the App were being passed on to China’s Communist Party Government.
The final valuation has not been set as the companies are still working out the equity structure and measures for data security, according to sources.
