How TikTok will be saved from ban in US: Trump's plan, American investors | Details so far

The deal aims to alleviate trade tensions and is expected to be finalized within 30 to 45 days, with a call between Trump and Xi Jinping for confirmation.

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said that the short-video app TikTok would remain operational in the country as the American officials agreed on a deal with China after almost a year of standoff over the app’s ownership.

Earlier this year, talks were underway for a deal that would have spun off TikTok's US operations into a new firm which was majority-owned and operated by US investors.(AP file photo)

All the US assets of the app will be transferred to new US owners from from its Chinese parent, ByteDance, reported Reuters.

“We have a deal on TikTok ... We have a group of very big companies that want to buy it,” Reuters quoted Trump as saying on Tuesday, without giving details on the deal. Names of US investors or a new ownership were not shared yet.

A deal on the social media app, which counts 170 million US users, has sought to defuse a wide-ranging trade war between the two economies that has unnerved global markets.

According to a CNBC report on Tuesday, the deal is expected to be closed within the next 30 to 45 days, and the agreement will include existing investors in TikTok's China-based parent ByteDance and new investors.

The Republican-controlled Congress passed a law in 2024 during the Joe Biden administration that required divestiture due to fears that TikTok's US user data could be accessed by the Chinese government.

This data allegedly allowed Beijing to spy on Americans or conduct influence operations through the app.

Washington had maintained that TikTok's ownership by ByteDance makes it beholden to the Chinese government.

Tiktok contradicted this saying that its content-recommendation engine and user data are stored in the US on cloud servers operated by Oracle, while content moderation decisions that affect American users are also made in the US.

The Trump administration also repeatedly declined to enforce a law requiring the app to shut down. Anticipating that it would anger the app's millions of users and disrupt political communications, the divestiture deadline was extended on three separate occasions.

Earlier this year, talks were underway for a deal that would have spun off TikTok's US operations into a new firm which was majority-owned and operated by US investors.

It was then put on hold after China indicated it would not approve it following Trump's announcements of steep tariffs on Chinese goods.

Trump's plan for TikTok

A framework agreement was reached by officials from both countries on Monday, marking a breakthrough after months of intense talks. The White House has been involved to an unprecedented level in the closely watched deal talks, reports said.

Several suitors including former Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt. A startup run by the OnlyFans founder and Amazon had expressed interest in the fast-growing business that analysts estimate could be worth as much as $50 billion.

Trump credited the app with helping him win re-election last year, and his personal account has 15 million followers. The White House launched an official TikTok account last month.

(With inputs from Reuters)