The White House announced on Monday that a sale agreement for TikTok is nearing completion.

According to a senior White House official, ByteDance’s ownership will be capped at less than 20%, with the Chinese government having approved the arrangement. Oracle, the American tech giant led by co-founder Larry Ellison, an ally of President Donald Trump, is the only confirmed member of the new ownership group so far. Oracle will assume responsibility for TikTok’s core infrastructure, including proprietary algorithms and source code.

The deal is expected to involve a group of investors buying TikTok’s U.S. operations, with Fox Corporation, Rupert Murdoch, and his son Lachlan Murdoch, as well as Dell CEO Michael Dell, being potential members.

The U.S. government itself will not maintain any direct stake in TikTok’s operations.

President Trump is reportedly seeking investors he described as “patriotic” and “love America,” signaling a preference for prominent American companies or individuals. 

Major regulatory hurdles remain. China must issue an export license for the algorithm and intellectual property. The transaction will also require U.S. antitrust and regulatory approval before proceeding. Later this week, President Trump is expected to sign an executive order granting an additional 120-day pause in the enforcement of the app ban and attesting to the deal’s compliance with national security demands.

This announcement concludes a drawn-out conflict in Congress, which saw Republicans pressing the White House for decisive action while the Trump administration repeatedly delayed the ban’s enforcement. Congress originally set a 270-day window, plus a 90-day extension, for ByteDance to negotiate a sale after the law’s passage in April 2024, but deadlines slipped into 2025 without agreement. Trump issued several executive orders during his second term to halt enforcement of the ban, eventually securing the current deal.