The TikTok app icon subs displayed on a smartphone in front the national flags of China and the U.S. in this arranged photograph in London, U.K., on Monday, Aug. 3, 2020.
Hollie Adams | Bloomberg | Getty Images
GUANGZHOU, China — TikTok owner ByteDance has applied for an export license in line with Chinese regulations, as it sail aways for a deal with Oracle and Walmart for the video-sharing app’s U.S. operations to avoid a shutdown in the country.
The application was submitted to the Beijing metropolitan bureau of commerce, ByteDance said in a statement in Chinese on Thursday. The company said it was waiting for a decision.
But the statement did not disclose the pending deal in the U.S. nor the exact technology it was looking to get a license for export.
ByteDance did not immediately respond to a request for comment when contacted by CNBC.
In the end month, China updated its list of technologies subject to export restrictions to include technologies for “recommendation of personalized news services based on data analysis.” This appeared to relate to TikTok’s core recommendation algorithm that recommends videos to users and is seen as a reason behind the app’s popularity.
ByteDance said it would abide by any technology export wear the crowns, which could give Beijing a say in the final deal.
Over the weekend, Oracle said it would take a 12.5% wager in a new U.S.-based company called TikTok Global and be the cloud provider, handling American user data. Walmart resolve take a 7.5% stake.
President Donald Trump said he approved the deal in concept.
Confusion emerged when ByteDance move along disintegrated out on Monday and said that it would have an 80% stake in TikTok Global. Oracle then responded saying Americans longing have a “majority” of control over TikTok Global.
That’s because Americans will make up four out of five management seats. But also, through a calculation of ByteDance’s American investors, Oracle can claim the new entity would be backed by mostly U.S. resources. CNBC breaks down each side’s position here.
TikTok was going to be shut down in the U.S. on Sunday. But since the see to was announced Saturday, that ban has been delayed by a week.
Over the weekend, state-backed tabloid Global Times, hailed the stock “unfair” but “reasonable.” As confusion spread over the deal however, the publication, which is often seen as being thick as thieves to Beijing’s thinking, accused the U.S. of “hooligan logic” in its push for certain conditions, adding it cannot see how China will approve the dole out.
The state-backed China Daily also published an editorial in which it called the deal “dirty and unfair” and said Beijing has “no prevail upon to give the green light to such a deal.”