China’s ByteDance seeks $60 billion TikTok valuation in US deal

China’s ByteDance Ltd is seeking a valuation of $60 billion for TikTok as Oracle Corp and Walmart Inc take stakes in the short-video app’s business to address US security concerns, Bloomberg News reported on Sunday, citing an unnamed person familiar with the matter.

Oracle will take a 12.5 percent stake in TikTok Global and store all its US user data in its cloud to comply with US national security requirements, the companies said on Saturday.

Retail giant Walmart said it would take a 7.5 percent stake.

The two companies would pay a combined $12 billion for their stakes if they agree to a $60 billion asking price, Bloomberg reported.

ByteDance, TikTok, Oracle and Walmart did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the report.

The final valuation had not been set as the companies worked out the equity structure and measures for data security, the Bloomberg report added.

US President Donald Trump on Saturday said that he supported a deal in principle would allow TikTok to continue to operate in the United States, even as it appeared to conflict with his earlier executive order for China’s ByteDance to divest the video app.

ByteDance was racing to avoid a crackdown on TikTok after the US Commerce Department said on Friday that it would block new downloads and updates to the app from Sunday.

US officials had expressed concern that the personal data of as many as 100 million Americans that use the app were being passed on to China’s Communist Party government. Bloomberg