Trump extends deadline for U.S. TikTok deal; Oracle said to be investor
President Donald Trump is once again pushing back the date for TikTok to divest its U.S. operations, with a major U.S. tech company reportedly ready to invest.
In an executive order dated Sept. 16, 2025, Trump said enforcement of a previous order requiring TikTok ‘s Chinese parent company ByteDance to find a new owner for its U.S. business by Wednesday, Sept. 17 or lose the ability to operate here will be delayed until Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025.
[READ MORE: Trump gives TikTok more time to divest U.S. operations]
This move follows media reports earlier this week that a framework deal had been established between two private companies that will enable TikTok to continue having an active presence on U.S. mobile and Internet platforms. In addition, Trump strongly hinted at a U.S. deal with China in a Monday, Sept. 15 post on his social media network Truth Social.
“A deal was reached on a ‘certain’ company that young people in our country very much wanted to save,” Trump said in the post. “They will be very happy! I will be speaking to President Xi on Friday.”
According to CNBC, Trump and Chinese president Xi Jinping are still scheduled to meet Friday, Sept. 19 to discuss an agreement that would transfer ownership of about 80% of TikTok’s U.S. operations to an investor consortium that the Wall Street Journal said will include Oracle as well as private equity firm Silver Lake and venture capital firm Andressen Horowitz. CNBC reports the deal is expected to close in 30-to-45 days.
In addition, the deal would reportedly enable Oracle, which has been storing TikTok’s U.S. data on its servers since 2022, to continue doing so.
TikTok takes winding path to remaining open in U.S.
The continuing saga of whether TikTok will continue to operate in the U.S. dates back to the Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, which was signed by President Biden in April 2024 in response to longstanding concerns over possible ties between TikTok’s China-based parent company ByteDance and the Chinese Communist Party and possible risks to U.S. user privacy (ByteDance and TikTok have publicly denied the validity of these concerns).
Due to this legislation, which makes it unlawful for U.S. companies to distribute, maintain, or update TikTok unless U. S. operation of the Chinese-owned platform is severed from Chinese control, TikTok briefly went dark in the U.S. during the weekend of Jan. 18-19.
In February 2025, an executive order from the White House mandated the federal government to establish a sovereign wealth fund, which uses government assets to invest in global markets, companies, real estate and private equity and could be used for the U.S. government to partially or fully finance a TikTok acquisition.
And according to Reuters, Amazon previously placed a bid to purchase the U.S. business TikTok from ByteDance. Although Amazon, TikTok and ByteDance all declined public comment, Reuters said a Trump administration official confirmed that Amazon sent a letter to Vice President J.D. Vance and Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick requesting to make an offer to purchase TikTok’s U.S. operation.
