On October 2, 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that sent shockwaves through the tech world and political corridors alike: TikTok, the wildly popular video-sharing app, would not face an imminent ban in the United States. Instead, a $14 billion deal—hammered out between Oracle, Silver Lake, Abu Dhabi-based MGX, and TikTok’s Chinese parent company ByteDance—would keep the app running stateside, at least for now. The news, confirmed by multiple outlets including Reuters and BBC, marked a dramatic turn in a saga that had threatened to upend digital advertising, social media culture, and U.S.-China relations.
The executive order, as reported by Bloomberg, allows Oracle, Silver Lake, and MGX to control roughly 45% of the new TikTok U.S. entity, while ByteDance’s stake would drop below 20%—but only if Beijing gives the green light. This arrangement, Trump insisted, was a victory for American security and business. “This is going to be American-operated all the way,” he told reporters, emphasizing that “big, strong American companies are buying it, the most prestigious companies there are, actually, and they’re going to make sure everything’s good.”
Yet, as with all things TikTok, the deal’s details are more tangled than they first appear. The $14 billion valuation for TikTok’s U.S. operations, confirmed by Vice President JD Vance, is a far cry from the $30–40 billion range estimated by analysts prior to the negotiations. According to CNN, Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives described the figure as “a steep discount.” ByteDance, for its part, recently valued its broader business at over $330 billion, highlighting the deep gap between market expectations and the final agreement. The discounted price, many believe, reflects the high political stakes and the need to satisfy both Washington’s and Beijing’s concerns.
Algorithm control—always the elephant in the room—remains a sticking point. Trump’s order mandates that TikTok’s prized recommendation algorithm be “retrained on American data,” with Oracle and other security partners overseeing the process. However, legal experts such as Alan Rozenshtein from the University of Minnesota Law School have pointed out that “the president has certified the deal, but he has not provided a lot of information on the algorithm.” Reports in Chinese media, which were later removed, suggested that ByteDance may still retain a role in global operations and revenue streams, further complicating the picture, as noted by The Wall Street Journal.
The political and geopolitical dimensions of the deal are impossible to ignore. Trump has repeatedly stressed that Chinese President Xi Jinping personally approved the arrangement. “President Xi was great. He approved it. So I’m not saying hostile, but it’s good to have our own minerals,” Trump said, as quoted by NDTV. He added, “Everyone said you’d never get the TikTok deal approved. They approved it, and we have great people buying it, American, big, strong American companies are buying it.” Despite Trump’s optimistic tone, China’s foreign ministry has not publicly confirmed its approval, instead urging the U.S. to ensure “an open, fair and non-discriminatory business environment.”
Back in Washington, not everyone is convinced. Republican representatives Brett Guthrie, Gus Bilirakis, and Richard Hudson issued a joint statement warning that the deal must “Protect American users from the influence and surveillance of CCP-aligned groups.” The Department of Justice has paused enforcement of the 2024 national security law—which would have forced ByteDance to divest TikTok’s U.S. business or face a ban—until December 16, 2025. This pause gives negotiators time to iron out the remaining details and, crucially, await China’s formal sign-off.
For advertisers and brands, the immediate crisis has been averted. TikTok’s 170 million U.S. users remain accessible, preserving a crucial platform for reaching younger consumers. As one advertising executive confided to AdAge, “We can breathe easier for now, but no one is writing five-year TikTok plans until China formally signs off.” The uncertainty, however, lingers like a cloud over long-term marketing strategies and ad budgets. The new TikTok U.S. entity will be governed by a seven-member board, with six Americans and one ByteDance appointee—a structure designed to reassure both regulators and the public about the company’s direction.
This burst of activity around TikTok isn’t happening in a vacuum. On the same day he announced the TikTok deal, Trump also greenlit the Ambler Road Project in Alaska, a massive infrastructure push aimed at unlocking critical minerals. “We built a road that’s over 200 miles long through a very beautiful area of the world. Actually, it’s incredible, when you look at it, it’s incredible, but a rough area from the standpoint of building. So we get a road done, and with that, we unleash billions and billions of dollars of wealth. It’s pretty amazing, when you think of it, and it’s wealth that we need if we’re going to be the number one country,” Trump said, as reported by ANI.
Trump’s remarks tied the TikTok deal to a broader push for American economic self-reliance and technological dominance. He emphasized the importance of increasing domestic production of critical minerals, describing it as “very necessary.” Trump also addressed the rise of American leadership in artificial intelligence, boasting, “You know, we’re number one now with AI. You probably read we’re beating everybody with AI levels that nobody ever thought even possible.” He highlighted the construction of massive power plants to support AI development, noting that these facilities are so large that “one of their plants is essentially the size, almost the size of Manhattan.”
Looking forward, Trump said the government is granting permits for AI companies to build their own power plants, allowing them to become utilities in their own right. “They’re building massive plants, and with the plant, they’re building their own electricity. They’ve become a utility, in a sense. I said, maybe you’ll do better with the utility than you do with the AI, I don’t know, but we’re letting them build their own electricity so we don’t have to worry about the grid,” he remarked. Trump also speculated about the potential of AI to cut down on medical costs and revolutionize knowledge in the healthcare sector.
Despite the celebratory mood in some quarters, the future of TikTok in the U.S. remains in limbo. The deal, while a temporary reprieve, still hinges on Beijing’s approval and on resolving thorny issues around data security and algorithmic control. Until those are settled, TikTok’s fate will continue to be a high-stakes game played between superpowers, with American users and businesses watching closely from the sidelines.
For now, TikTok’s 170 million U.S. users can keep scrolling, sharing, and creating. But the platform’s long-term future—and its role in the ever-evolving landscape of U.S.-China relations—remains as uncertain as ever.
