ByteDance plans TikTok IPO in bid to win US deal

MANILA, Philippines — China’s ByteDance is planning a US initial public offering of TikTok Global, the new company that will operate the popular short video app, should its proposed deal be cleared by the US government, people familiar with the matter said on Thursday.

ByteDance is racing to clinch an agreement with the White House that will stave off a US ban on TikTok that President Donald Trump has threatened could happen as early as next week. Trump ordered ByteDance last month to divest TikTok amid US concerns that the personal data of as many as 100 million Americans who use the app could be passed on to China’s Communist Party government.

On Wednesday, he reiterated he was opposed to ByteDance retaining majority ownership of TikTok.

The White House and ByteDance have agreed to a term sheet on some aspects of a deal, although Trump has not yet approved it, one of the sources said. Top ByteDance US investors, Oracle Corp. and potentially Walmart Inc. would hold at least a 60 percent stake in TikTok’s US operations, the source said.

White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows said the situation was still fluid.

“There’s no definite proposal that the president’s being asked to consider or reject at this point,” Meadows told reporters.

The new company, dubbed TikTok Global, will have a majority of American directors, a US chief executive and a security expert on the board, the source added. Oracle has agreed to eventually own a 20 percent stake in the company, according to the source. If Walmart also successfully negotiates acquiring a stake, its CEO, Doug McMillon, would get a seat on TikTok Global’s board, the source said.

Trump said that his administration talked with Walmart and Oracle on Thursday but “nothing much has changed” regarding a deal.

An IPO of TikTok would be one of the technology sector’s biggest-ever stock market debuts, given that the app was recently valued by ByteDance investors at more than $50 billion. It would further reduce ByteDance’s stake in the company to appease US officials who want to see the Chinese firm loosen its grip on the video app.

The filing of the IPO would be on a US stock exchange and could come in about a year, the sources said.

There is no certainty over whether Trump will sign off on the agreement.

It was also not immediately clear what assets TikTok Global would own beyond the app’s assets in the United States.

ByteDance has offered to create 25,000 new US jobs with TikTok headquartered in the United States as it seeks to win Trump’s blessing for a deal, Reuters has reported.

It was also not clear whether ByteDance could present the deal to China as keeping majority ownership of TikTok. Chinese officials have said they do not want ByteDance to agree to a forced sale, and the company’s proposal to the White House this week called for it to retain majority ownership of TikTok.