Last month, US President Donald Trump announced that they finally have a buyer for TikTok in the US and that the Chinese President Xi Jinping is “probably” going to agree to it.
Now, a new development comes courtesy of The Information, which reports that a deal meeting the law’s conditions is nearing finalized, one that could result in a new, separate version of the TikTok app.
However, any such agreement would still need to be approved by Chinese regulators. At the same time, tensions remain unresolved between Beijing and the Trump administration, particularly over ongoing tariff disputes.
According to the report, the Trump administration is close to finalizing a deal to sell TikTok’s U.S. operations to a consortium of “non-Chinese” investors. Oracle is said to be part of the group, while TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, would retain a minority stake, a structure designed to comply with the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act.
Trump had previously revealed that the buyers are a “group of very wealthy people.”
The Wall Street Journal reported earlier today that Oracle has finalized a new deal with the federal government through the General Services Administration. The agreement is being described as the first of its kind, offering a government-wide discount on cloud infrastructure. As part of the deal, Oracle will provide a 75% discount on licensed software.
Meanwhile, TikTok employees are said to be developing a rebranded version of the app, internally called “M2” — a follow-up to the current app, which carries the internal code name “M.” This new version is expected to launch in app stores on September 5th.
Last month, President Donald Trump issued a third extension of the app store ban deadline. That extension is currently set to expire in mid-September. According to a source cited by The Information, the current version of TikTok will be removed from app stores when the new version is released. The existing app is then expected to stop functioning entirely by March 2026.