On the 4th, U.S. President Trump announced that he will sign an executive order to again grant TikTok a 75-day grace period under the 'ban if not sold' law.
He stated that the U.S. government has been working to promote an agreement to 'save TikTok' and has 'made significant progress', but more work is needed to reach an agreement.
No Agreement Reached with U.S. Government
In addition, TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, stated that no agreement has been reached with the U.S. government.
ByteDance pointed out in an article on its official WeChat account that the company is still negotiating with the U.S. government, and there are significant differences on many key issues.
ByteDance said: 'According to Chinese laws, any agreement must undergo relevant review procedures.'
China Reportedly Not Approving TikTok U.S. Asset Split
On the other hand, Reuters reported on the 5th, citing informed sources, that after Trump announced reciprocal tariffs, China stated it would not approve the transaction of splitting TikTok's U.S. assets, thus the deal was shelved.
The insider revealed that the transaction structure was basically finalized on the 2nd, with the core content being to separate TikTok's U.S. operations to establish a new company headquartered in the U.S., owned and operated by majority U.S. investors, with ByteDance retaining a minority stake of less than 20%. The transaction has been approved by existing investors, new investors, ByteDance, and the U.S. government.
In April 2024, then-U.S. President Biden signed a 'ban if not sold' bill passed by both houses of Congress, requiring TikTok's parent company ByteDance to sell TikTok to a non-Chinese company within 270 days, otherwise the app will be banned in the U.S. after January 19, 2025.
On January 20 this year, Trump, on his first day in office, signed an executive order granting TikTok a 75-day grace period under the 'ban if not sold' law. This grace period was originally set to expire on April 5.