American companies Oracle and Walmart got President Donald Trump\u2019s nod to partner with popular short-video application TikTok in time for its earlier announced downloads ban in the United States.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have given the deal my blessing if they get it done that\u2019s great, if they don\u2019t that\u2019s okay too\u2026 I approved the deal in concept,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n
The U.S. Department of Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross has earlier announced<\/a> it would delay the prohibition of U.S. transactions with TikTok until next Sunday to give time for the recently made deal.<\/p>\n Oracle on Sunday also announced it was chosen as TikTok\u2019s technology partner as a secure cloud provider and will become a minority investor with a 12.5% stake. TikTok also confirmed Oracle\u2019s role and said it was working with Walmart on a commercial partnership. This recent technical decision by TikTok was heavily influenced by Zoom\u2019s recent success in moving a large portion of its video conferencing capacity to the Oracle Public Cloud.<\/p>\n \u201cTikTok picked Oracle\u2019s new Generation 2 Cloud infrastructure because it\u2019s much faster, more reliable, and more secure than the first generation technology currently offered by all the other major cloud providers,\u201d said Oracle Chief Technology Officer Larry Ellison.<\/p>\n \u201cAs a part of this agreement, TikTok will run on the Oracle Cloud and Oracle will become a minority investor in TikTok Global,\u201d said Oracle CEO Safra Catz.<\/p>\n \u201cOracle will quickly deploy, rapidly scale, and operate TikTok systems in the Oracle Cloud. We are a hundred percent confident in our ability to deliver a highly secure environment to TikTok and ensure data privacy to TikTok\u2019s American users, and users throughout the world. This greatly improved security and guaranteed privacy will enable the continued rapid growth of the TikTok user community to benefit all stakeholders,\u201d the company said in a statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n Another American firm, Walmart, meanwhile, said it has tentatively agreed to a purchase 7.5% stake in TikTok as its CEO Doug McMillon will serve as one of the five board members of the newly created company.<\/p>\n \u201cIn addition, we would work toward an initial public offering of the company in the United States within the next year to bring even more ownership to American citizens,\u201d Walmart said in a statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cWe believe this deal will benefit the U.S. in many ways, including bringing over 25,000 jobs over time as well as continuing to develop exciting, innovative products for people to enjoy around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n Walmart said the partnership will provide them with an important way for us to expand the reach and serve omnichannel customers as well as grow third-party marketplace, fulfillment, and advertising businesses.<\/p>\n ByteDance, TikTok\u2019s Chinese parent company, will own the remaining 80% of TikTok, according to a person familiar with the matter. However, because 40% of ByteDance is owned by U.S. venture capital firms, the Trump administration can technically claim TikTok Global is now majority-owned by U.S. money.<\/p>\n