According to the latest news from Bloomberg, U.S. President Trump stated that he has “in principle” agreed to the solution received by the U.S. government regarding TikTok. The program does not involve technology and algorithm transfer.
At this time, it is less than 24 hours before WeChat and TikTok are removed from the US app stores.
“I have already expressed my blessing to this deal,” Trump told reporters when he left the White House on September 19 for a campaign rally in Fayetteville, New Carolina. “I agreed to this deal in principle.”
The proposal has been initially approved by the US government, which will allow US users to continue using TikTok. However, the plan will eventually take effect, and it still needs the final formal agreement of all parties.
At the same time, TikTok and its parent company Bytedance filed a lawsuit with a federal judge on Friday, demanding that the Trump administration revoke the ban on the legalization of TikTok in the United States.
“President Trump has surpassed his authority. The administrative ban on TikTok is for political reasons, not to stop (abnormal and extraordinary threats), and is inconsistent with U.S. law.” TikTok said, “This The ban also violates the provisions of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution on the people’s right to freedom of speech.”
The peace talks are still going on, but things seem to have turned around.
The third way
No one thought that Zhang Yiming and his team found a third way apart from the two paths of “exiting the United States” and “selling to American companies” given by Trump.
According to the official statement issued by TikTok, Bytedance, Oracle, and Wal-Mart reached a principled consensus on the plan. The three parties will follow this consensus and reach a cooperation agreement that meets the legal requirements of the United States and China as soon as possible.
In the future, TikTok’s headquarters will remain in the United States, and Oracle will become TikTok’s partner in data security compliance, providing cloud architecture services for US users. The program does not involve technology and algorithm transfer.
On September 18, the U.S. Department of Commerce, under the name of national security and data privacy, announced that it would ban TikTok from downloading and updating app stores in the United States from September 20. TikTok then strongly stated that it opposes the decision of the US Department of Commerce and is deeply disappointed. It will continue to advance lawsuits against US administrative orders to protect the legitimate rights and interests of users, creators, partners, and the company.
According to the latest news from Agence France-Presse, the US Department of Commerce announced on Saturday afternoon local time that the ban that will take effect on Sunday will be postponed until at least September 27. This decision was made “in consideration of recent positive developments.”
A set of combo punches
In addition to this cooperation, in addition to the “third way” created by Tiktok itself, it also includes a series of combo punches.
According to reports, TikTok will add 25,000 jobs in the next few years to support rapid business development. Be determined not only to “make money”, but to integrate into American society, and not to give Facebook and other opponents the opportunity to attack and smear from the perspective of “foreign companies”.
TikTok will start a new round of financing of no more than 20% in the same period. Oracle and Walmart will be introduced as potential investors with first-hand rights. The two companies will invest a total of 100 billion yuan (about 12.5 billion US dollars) in this round of financing. . After the completion of this round of financing, TikTok’s post-investment valuation will reach nearly 500 billion yuan (approximately US$62.5 billion). At the same time, Bytedance will continue to control TikTok, Oracle and Wal-Mart will receive TikTok 12.5% and respectively. With 7.5% of the shares, it has become the most important “local partner” in the US market.
“Oracle Cloud Infrastructure will empower TikTok’s next phase of development, and at the same time, ensure that the company’s business adheres to the most stringent security standards.” Oracle founder and chief technology officer Larry Ellison (Larry Ellison) said. “TikTok, Oracle, and Walmart will join hands to promote the development of the next global Internet giant.”
“Walmart is very pleased to work with Bytedance and Oracle to build TikTok into a more popular service application in the United States.” said Doug McMillon, CEO of Walmart. “We look forward to the final completion of the transaction, starting to serve our customers and creating more jobs.”
And TikTok officials also stated that if market conditions permit, TikTok will complete an initial public offering (IPO) in the United States within one year, thereby becoming a more open and transparent “public company”, which will no longer be “unnecessarily” speculation.
Towards true internationalization
It can be seen that Bytedance’s basic strategy is to use a global perspective and continue to firmly follow the path of internationalization to counter Trump’s “choice of two”, that is, “not only need to make money and take the market, but also to cooperate. A win-win situation and the attitude of integrating into the world.” Such a strategy creates a very important external environment for the realization of the “third way” for ByteDance.
TikTok is facing the issue of being blocked in the United States. It is another crucial battle for Chinese companies to internationalize after Huawei. It is also the huge challenge Zhang Yiming encountered after he announced his work last year to focus on the global market.
This battle stems from misunderstanding and mistrust. This is a real problem. Bytedance chose not to be affected by emotions and focused on solving these problems.
It now appears that Bytedance has chosen the “complete transparency” of the business mechanism to prevent the “mixed water” strategy, which is a correct choice .
Regardless of whether American politicians and competitors are fishing in troubled waters, what ByteDance needs to do is to make every effort to clear the water, not to struggle between two options set by others, but to find a third way.
Bytedance’s efforts during this period of time obviously created new hope for Tiktok.
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