The White House did not discuss how it came up with the US$14 billion valuation.
TikTok’s Chinese parent, ByteDance, currently values itself at more than US$330 billion, according to its new employee share buyback plan. TikTok contributes a small percentage of the company’s total revenue.
According to Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives, TikTok was estimated to be worth US$30 billion to US$40 billion without the algorithm as of April 2025.
Alan Rozenshtein, a professor at the University of Minnesota Law School, said the executive order left unanswered questions, including whether ByteDance would still control the algorithm.
“The problem is that the president has certified the deal, but he has not provided a lot of information on the algorithm,” he said.
Chinese media on Friday also painted a different picture of the TikTok agreement, suggesting ByteDance would continue to play a major or operational role.
ByteDance will set up a new US company as part of the restructuring of TikTok’s US operations, Chinese media outlet LatePost reported, citing sources.
The new company to be set up by ByteDance will be responsible for e-commerce, branding operations and interconnection with international operations, the report said.
The report also said the joint venture, as described by the White House and valued at US$14 billion, would be responsible for US digital security, safeguarding content and software as well as related local businesses.
Another Chinese financial magazine, Caixin, also reported, citing people close to the deal, that ByteDance planned to set up a TikTok US entity that will receive some revenue from the new TikTok joint venture.
The White House and ByteDance did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
ORACLE AND OTHERS TO OWN TIKTOK IN THE US
A group of three investors, including Oracle and private-equity firm Silver Lake, will take a roughly 50 per cent stake in TikTok US, two sources familiar with the deal said on Thursday.
A group of existing shareholders in ByteDance will hold a roughly 30 per cent stake, one of the sources said. Among ByteDance’s current investors are Susquehanna International Group, General Atlantic and KKR.
Given intense investor interest in TikTok, the 50 per cent stake may still shift, the source noted.
Oracle and Silver Lake did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
CNBC reported earlier, citing sources, that Abu Dhabi-based MGX, Oracle and Silver Lake are poised to be the main investors in TikTok US with a combined 45 per cent ownership.
MGX did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on the CNBC report.
Republican House of Representatives lawmakers said they wanted to see more details of the deal to ensure it represented a clean break with China. “As the details are finalised, we must ensure this deal protects American users from the influence and surveillance of CCP-aligned groups,” said US Representatives Brett Guthrie, Gus Bilirakis and Richard Hudson.
The agreement on TikTok’s US operations includes the appointment by ByteDance of one of seven board members for the new entity, with Americans holding the other six seats, a senior White House official said on Saturday.
ByteDance would hold less than 20 per cent in TikTok US to comply with requirements set out in the 2024 law that ordered it shut down by January 2025 if ByteDance did not sell its US assets.
