ByteDance Gets an Extra Week to Sell off TikTok's US Business

TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, has received an extra week to sell its U.S. operations. 

On Wednesday, the TikTok owner got more time to sell the short-form video application when the Trump administration gave the company until Dec. 4 to finalize the deal proposed by Oracle and Walmart. 

A spokesperson of the Treasury Department said the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. (CFIUS) had given ByteDance one week extension to review a "revised submission" that it has received and eventually secure a deal, CNN reported.

According to CNET, the extension follows President Donald Trump's August executive order requiring China's ByteDance to sell the U.S. operations by Nov. 12.

TikTok earlier requested an extension from the CFIUS, which reviews foreign acquisitions regarding potential national security risks. The committee has pushed back the deadline twice and gave the company until December 4.  

Read also: Snapchat Would Spend $1 Million a Day on Its New Feature to Compete with TikTok

The software company Oracle and the retail giant Walmart had struck a deal with ByteDance. However, the agreement needs to be finalized. 

There was confusion with the deal's terms, including the amount of control that each company will have over TikTok and if the arrangement will satisfy the national security concerns. A company representative has declined to comment.

The Treasury Department reiterated that they have been clear about the needed steps. 

Earlier this month, TikTok was prompted to legally challenge the order because of the Trump administration's silence.

Aside from the forced sale from the Trump administration, Trump also issued an executive order, which will be enforced by the Commerce Department, to bar any U.S. transactions with ByteDance due to concerns that TikTok gathers data that "enable Chinese Communist Party to access Americans' proprietary and personal information." But the federal judges in Pennsylvania and Washington have blocked the ban.

TikTok deals with Oracle and Walmart?

Oracle and Walmart could have a combined 20 percent stake in the new company called TikTok Global. The firm is expected to go public in 2021, wherein four of the five board members will be Americans.

TikTok said that Oracle would host all U.S. user data on the cloud platform and would be tasked with securing associated computer systems. 

In a statement, Safra Catz, Oracle CEO, said: "We are a hundred percent confident in our ability to deliver a highly secure environment to TikTok and ensure data privacy to TikTok's American users, and users throughout the world."

TikTok Global would create 25,000 employment as part of an expansion of its global headquarters that will be in the U.S. According to Walmart, it will pay more than $5 billion in new tax dollars to the U.S. Treasury. 

TikTok Global also plans to make an educational program to "deliver and develop an AI-driven online video curriculum" covering courses in science, reading, history, math, and computer engineering for children. 

Read also: Tesla Model 3 Yellow Taxi Cabs Will Ease Your Commute in New York