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Inside China Tech: Is that TikTok deal happening or not?

  • The deal over TikTok’s US operations is complicated by confusion over the ownership structure of the new entity ByteDance, Oracle and Walmart plan to form
  • Huawei says it has enough chips for its communications equipment businesses but not for its smartphones

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The deal over TikTok’s US operations is complicated by confusion over the ownership structure of the new entity ByteDance, Oracle and Walmart plan to form. Photo: AP
Melissa Zhu

Hello, this is Melissa Zhu from SCMP’s tech desk in Hong Kong with your Saturday morning round-up of this week’s biggest stories about China tech: more complications surrounding the US TikTok deal, Huawei’s chip supply situation and advancements that could pave the way for safer organ transplants from pigs to humans.

An unpopular agreement

The deal between ByteDance, Oracle and Walmart over TikTok’s US operations – pending approval from both the Trump administration and Beijing authorities – has been complicated by confusion over the ownership structure of the new entity they plan to form, as Coco Feng and Tracy Qu report.
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Beijing-based ByteDance, which has been criticised in its home market for entering negotiations with American companies soon after US President Donald Trump ordered it to divest its operations in the US, emphasised on Monday that it will retain control over the new entity, TikTok Global.

The Chinese entertainment giant said in a post on its news aggregator Jinri Toutiao that TikTok Global will be its wholly-owned subsidiary.

ByteDance plans to list TikTok Global “to further enhance the corporate governance structure and transparency”, but even after a small pre-IPO funding round it will still own a controlling 80 per cent stake, it added.

However, Oracle has said that its new TikTok venture will be entirely divested from ByteDance.

“Upon creation of TikTok Global, Oracle/Walmart will make their investment and the TikTok Global shares will be distributed to their owners, Americans will be the majority and ByteDance will have no ownership in TikTok Global,” Oracle said in a statement to reporters late on Monday in the US.

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The US president said on Monday he would not approve a deal between Oracle and TikTok unless the US owners gain control over the popular Chinese-owned video-sharing app, in a reversal of his statement over the weekend that the deal had his “blessing”.

06:02

Global expansion of TikTok and other Chinese tech companies is likely, only not in the West

Global expansion of TikTok and other Chinese tech companies is likely, only not in the West
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