USA / ByteDance granted 15-day extension on TikTok sale deadline in US

The US government has granted ByteDance a 15-day extension of an order that had directed it to sell TikTok by November 12 in the US. ByteDance had challenged the November 12 deadline this week. It has been in talks for a deal with Walmart and Oracle to shift TikTok's US assets into a new entity.

Vikrant Shekhawat : Nov 14, 2020, 08:55 AM
WASHINGTON- The Trump administration granted ByteDance a 15-day extension of a divestiture order that had directed the Chinese company to sell its TikTok short video-sharing app by Thursday.

TikTok first disclosed the extension earlier in a court filing, saying it now has until Nov. 27 to reach an agreement. Under pressure from the U.S. government, ByteDance has been in talks for a deal with Walmart Inc WMT.N and Oracle Corp ORCL.N to shift TikTok's U.S. assets into a new entity.

The Treasury Department said on Friday the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) granted the 15-day extension to тАЬprovide the parties and the committee additional time to resolve this case in a manner that complies with the Order.тАЭ

ByteDance filed a petition on Tuesday with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia challenging the Trump administration divestiture order.

ByteDance said on Tuesday CFIUS seeks тАЬto compel the wholesale divestment of TikTok, a multibillion-dollar business built on technology developed byтАЭ ByteDance and based on the governmentтАЩs review of the Chinese companyтАЩs 2017 acquisition of Musical.ly.

President Donald Trump in an Aug. 14 order had directed ByteDance to divest the app within 90 days.

The Trump administration contends TikTok poses national security concerns, saying the personal data of U.S. users could be obtained by ChinaтАЩs government. TikTok, which has over 100 million U.S. users, denies the allegations.

Trump has said the Walmart-Oracle deal had his тАЬblessing.тАЭ

One big issue that has persisted is over the ownership structure of the new company, TikTok Global, which would own TikTokтАЩs U.S. assets.

In TuesdayтАЩs court filing, ByteDance said it submitted a fourth proposal last Friday that contemplated addressing U.S. concerns тАЬby creating a new entity, wholly owned by Oracle, Walmart and existing U.S. investors in ByteDance, that would be responsible for handling TikTokтАЩs U.S. user data and content moderation.тАЭ

Separate restrictions on TikTok from the U.S. Commerce Department have been blocked by federal courts, including transaction curbs scheduled to take effect on Thursday that TikTok warned could effectively ban the appтАЩs use in the United States.

A Commerce Department ban on Apple Inc AAPL.O and Alphabet Inc's Google GOOGL.O offering TikTok for download for new U.S. users that had been set to take effect on Sept. 27 has also been blocked.