US President Donald Trump has announced that a group of major American companies has reached an agreement to acquire TikTok, marking a breakthrough after nearly a year of negotiations.
Trump said the deal would allow TikTok to continue operating in the United States while shifting ownership from its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to a new entity controlled by American investors.
The announcement came just before the September 17 deadline set by the US government for ByteDance to either sell its stake in TikTok or shut down its US operations. However, the White House has extended the deadline to December 16 to give more time to finalize the transaction.
According to reports, the new entity will be overseen by a board dominated by American citizens, including at least one member appointed by the government. TikTok currently has about 170 million users in the US.
The ownership change aims to address national security concerns over user data potentially being accessed by the Chinese government. Trump rejected calls for an outright ban on the app, saying it could anger its massive user base. He also acknowledged that TikTok helped him gain support during the last presidential election, where his personal account had 15 million followers.
