The exact nature of the agreement remains unclear, and it has been reported that neither Oracle nor its bidding competitor Microsoft would be allowed to purchase the US operations outright.
Oracle said that it is the “trusted technology provider” in the deal, and it is not clear how the ownership of TikTok will be structured and is still awaiting approval from the US and Chinese authorities.
TikTok's popularity exploded in the US and Europe in recent years, with 315 million downloads in just the first three months of 2020.
Like most social media apps, it collects personal information about its users. Donald Trump has threatened to ban the app outright and has said that its US operations needed to be sold to a US company for security oversight.
Last week, ByteDance told Microsoft that the company would not be selling TikTok’s US operations to the tech giants.
“We are confident our proposal would have been good for TikTok’s users while protecting national security interests,” said Microsoft in a written release.
“To do this, we would have made significant changes to ensure the service met the highest standards for security, privacy, online safety, and combatting disinformation, and we made these principles clear in our August statement. We look forward to seeing how the service evolves in these important areas.”
It was back in August that Microsoft announced it was in discussions to explore a purchase of TikTok in the United States, following a conversation between Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and President Trump.
