Trump will not block TikTok sale, source says

The US treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin, said on Monday that the deal between the US tech company Oracle and China’s ByteDance has been approved in principle but details still need to be worked out.<br><br>Oracle said on Monday that it would be the cloud technology provider for TikTok’s operations but would not be marketing TikTok’s algorithm, which is seen as the app’s most valuable feature, to other companies.<br><br>Oracle said in a statement it was working with US Treasury officials to finalize the next steps and a definitive agreement.<br><br>ByteDance has no plans to offer its algorithm to Oracle under any form of a transaction agreement, sources say.<br><br>The source said US President Donald Trump would not block the sale but warned there was still a chance the president could change his mind.<br><br>Trump had previously threatened to ban the app unless it was sold to a US company by September 20.<br><br>ByteDance has agreed to the deal with Oracle in which the US tech company will be ByteDance’s technology provider but details about a full buyout of Tiktok are still not finalised.<br><br>US Treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin said the technology partnership between the two companies would address the administration’s concerns on security.<br><br>“I will just say from our standpoint. We shall see where they come out in the next few days in terms of a full package,” Mnuchin told CNBC.<br><br>“I want to emphasize one other thing. The outcome of this is there will be users on TikTok on Oracle’s cloud,” he added.<br><br>Trump last month ordered ByteDance to divest the US arm of TikTok.<br><br>ByteDance has been in talks for weeks with Oracle and other bidders about the sale of TikTok.<br><br>Oracle beat Microsoft Corp in the battle to buy TikTok.<br><br>ByteDance has agreed to list TikTok on a US stock exchange after an initial public offering (IPO) in a year, the sources said.<br><br>‫(-(Associated Press)-)‬