Business

MGX Among Main Investors in TikTok’s US Business Deal

Abu Dhabi-based MGX investment fund has joined Enterprise tech giant Oracle and Silver Lake as the main investors in TikTok’s US business, controlling a roughly 45% stake in the entity, while ByteDance investors and new holders will own 35%.

The US President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order approving a proposal saving TikTok from a ban while protecting America’s national security. The transaction is valued at $14 billion according to the US Vice President JD Vance.

President Trump has determined that the divestiture outlined in a proposed framework agreement, in which TikTok’s U.S. application would be operated by a new joint-venture company based in the US, is a “qualified divestiture.”

The proposed divestiture resolves the national security concerns and complies with the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act (Act) by removing TikTok in the United States from China’s control.

The divestiture prohibits the storage of sensitive U.S. user data in a manner that would allow such data to be under the control of a foreign adversary. All U.S. user data will be stored in a trusted, secure, and purpose-built cloud environment in the United States run by Oracle.

The divestiture includes intense monitoring of software updates, the algorithm, and data flows, and it requires all recommendation models, including algorithms, that use U.S. user data to be retrained and monitored by America’s trusted security partners. This ensures U.S. content is free from improper manipulation.

According to the Executive Order, the deal met the requirements of a national security law requiring China-based ByteDance to sell TikTok’s US operations or face an effective ban in the country. Under the terms, which China must still approve, a new joint-venture company will oversee TikTok’s US business, with ByteDance retaining less than a 20% stake and choose only one director of the seven-seat board, and be excluded from the company’s security committee.

President Trump said that Chinese President Xi Jinping gave the deal the go ahead, while Vance said that the Chinese government put up some resistance before the agreement.

Oracle Will be Security Provider

Oracle, one of the nation’s leading technology companies, will act as TikTok’s security provider and independently monitor and assure the safety of all operations in the US.

“It’s owned by Americans, and very sophisticated Americans. This is going to be American operated all the way,” Trump said at the signing ceremony.

Preserving TikTok’s business will generate $178 billion in economic activity in the U.S. over the next four years and sustain thousands of U.S. jobs and businesses, the White House said in a statement on Thursday.

President Trump: “And if we can save it, I think that would be a very good thing. And I think it would be economically good for America.”

The President last week signed an executive order that extended ByteDance’s deadline to divest TikTok’s U.S. operations or be subject to a national security law originally signed by former President Joe Biden.

Global Business Magazine

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