TikTok confirms agreement with Oracle, Walmart; says Oracle will host all US user data

TikTok, a video-sharing app owned by Chinese company ByteDance, has confirmed an agreement with Oracle and Walmart, earlier announced by US President Donald Trump.

"We are pleased that the proposal by TikTok, Oracle, and Walmart will resolve the security concerns of the US Administration and settle questions around TikTok's future in the US," a TikTok spokesperson said in a statement released on TikTok's Communications Team Twitter page on Saturday.

According to the release, both Oracle and Walmart will take part in a TikTok Global pre-IPO financing round in which they can take up to a 20 percent cumulative stake in the company.

"As part of this proposal, Oracle will become our trusted technology provider, responsible for hosting all US user data and securing associated computer systems to ensure US national security requirements are fully satisfied. We are currently working with Walmart on a commercial partnership as well," TikTok said in its statement.

According to the Saturday statement, TikTok will expand its headquarters in the US, bringing 25,000 jobs across the country.

Earlier on Saturday, Trump said he had approved the purchase of TikTok by US software company Oracle, with the possible participation of Walmart. Trump said that the new deal would see the creation of a new company, based in Texas, that would assume TikTok's US operations. The US president also said that the deal would include a $5 billion donation to an education program.

ByteDance said on its Toutiao online content platform on Sunday that it had learned about the $5 billion donation from US media reports but that the company had been committed to investing in the education field and was planning online education projects.

On Friday, the US Commerce Department said that Trump's executive order was going to block US users from downloading TikTok starting from September 20 and was going to ban the use of the app in the US from November 12. In a Saturday statement, the Commerce Department said it was postponing the planned block of new TikTok downloads until September 27, in light of Trump's new announcement.

-ANI

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