TikTok owner’s big reason to strike a U.S. deal: China is slowing

TikTok’s Chinese owner has fought tooth and nail to keep control over its wildly popular platform for dancing teens and young Los Angeles influencers. One big reason: The days of fast internet fortunes and meteoric digital growth in its home market may be coming to an end.

With Microsoft dropping out of the race to take over TikTok in the United States, Oracle has emerged as the leading contender to save the video app from impending restrictions from the Trump administration.

TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, has chosen the software giant to be its U.S. technology partner, an arrangement that would most likely give Oracle oversight over data on American users.

Speaking on CNBC on Monday morning, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said that government officials would review the proposal by ByteDance and Oracle this week and then make a recommendation to President Donald Trump.

Mnuchin did not make clear whether Oracle would also buy a majority share in TikTok's U.S. operations as part of the proposed deal. Trump had pressed for new ownership of the app as a way to address concerns about potential data gathering by the Chinese government.

Deal talks had been held up after China signaled last month that it would bar TikTok’s technology from being transferred overseas. A partnership with Oracle would probably be more palatable to Beijing, which requires many foreign companies to work with local counterparts to do business in China.

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