Trump signs order declaring TikTok sale ready and values it at $14B

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday outlining his plan to transfer TikTok’s U.S. operations from its Chinese owners to American and international investors, saying the deal would meet the national security standards set by a 2024 law.

According to Vice President JD Vance, the new U.S.-based entity will be worth about $14 billion — significantly less than some analysts had previously estimated.

Trump also postponed until January 20 the enforcement of the law requiring TikTok’s divestment, giving more time to finalize the sale, separate TikTok’s U.S. business from its global platform, attract investors, and secure Beijing’s approval.

The order marks progress toward a resolution but leaves major questions unresolved, particularly regarding control of TikTok’s key recommendation algorithm. Trump’s directive states that the algorithm will be retrained, supervised by security partners, and managed under the new joint venture.

“There was resistance from the Chinese side, but our priority was to keep TikTok running while protecting Americans’ data privacy as required by law,” Vance told reporters at the White House.

Trump said he had spoken with Chinese President Xi Jinping, who gave his consent to move forward. “We had a good talk, and he said go ahead,” Trump told reporters.

Neither the Chinese embassy in Washington nor TikTok immediately commented on the announcement.

TikTok, with 170 million users in the U.S., played a notable role in Trump’s reelection campaign, and the president now has 15 million followers on his personal account. The White House also launched an official TikTok account last month.

“This will be American-run from top to bottom,” Trump declared, adding that Dell Technologies founder Michael Dell, media mogul Rupert Murdoch, and several other major investors would take part in the deal.