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ByteDance is tapping Oracle to be its technology partner and assume management of TikTok’s US user data, but would not sell TikTok’s US operations and would not give the source code for the platform.
The user data is stored in Alphabet Inc’s cloud.
Meanwhile, Oracle is negotiating for a stake in TikTok’s US operations.
Some ByteDance top investors, including Sequoia and General Atlantic, will get minority stakes in those operations.
Oracle chairman Larry Ellison is among the tech world’s few Trump supporters.
While Oracle has significant technological prowess in handling and safeguarding data, it has no social media experience.
It is unclear whether President Donald Trump, who demands that a US technology firm acquire most of TikTok in the US, will approve the deal.
The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) is overseeing the ByteDance-Oracle deal, among the many it reviews for national security risk.
ByteDance, TikTok's Chinese owner, will argue that CFIUS’s approval two years ago of China Oceanwide's purchase of US insurer Genworth Financial sets a precedent for its proposed deal with Oracle.
China Oceanwide uses a US-based, third-party service to manage Genworth’s US policyholder data, which is a similar arrangement that ByteDance is pursuing with Oracle.
Microsoft had been informed by ByteDance that it would not sell TikTok’s US operations.
Walmart Inc. said it was still interested in investing and would pursue further talks with ByteDance and other parties.
