TikTok’s U.S. operations have been given a fourth reprieve thanks to a Sept. 16 Executive Order from President Donald Trump delaying enforcement of the ban until Dec. 16, 2025. This follows the June 2025 order postponing the ban for a third time; the law was supposed to take effect in January 2025. TikTok U.S. is currently owned and operated by Chinese firm ByteDance.
The stakes are high all around, particularly in the retail arena: TikTok Shop has become a powerhouse commerce vehicle just two years after its launch.
Additionally, reporting by CNBC and the Wall Street Journal has revealed the contours of a deal in the works that would have TikTok controlled by an investor consortium including Oracle and investment firms Silver Lake and Andreesen Horowitz. A new entity would be formed to run the app, with the U.S. investors holding roughly an 80% stake and Chinese shareholders the remainder.
However, the negotiations are “one part of the complex economic and trade negotiations between Washington and Beijing, along with other thorny questions like the fate of chip maker Nvidia’s exports to China,” according to the WSJ article. If this deal actually goes through, existing U.S. TikTok users would be asked to shift to a new app that TikTok has built and is testing, according to people familiar with the matter.
Advertisement
