New possibilities for TikTok transactions other than "package sale" or "closing exit"

　　The deadline set by U.S. President Trump for the TikTok international version of TikTok, which is owned by the Chinese company Bytedance, is approaching on September 20. However, in the past few days, the US government’s “hunting” of TikTok has once again experienced a major turning point. Fundamental changes have taken place in the time and method of "", and new possibilities have emerged beyond "package sale" or "closing and leaving."

Why Oracle became the "first choice"

　　September 15 was the "deadline" originally set by US President Trump for the TikTok transaction.

On September 10, Trump once again told the media before heading to Michigan that the deadline for ByteDance to sell TikTok's US assets would not be extended, "either close or sell."

　　However, US Treasury Secretary Mnuchin revealed to the media on September 13th local time that President Trump "actively" extended the deadline for TikTok's final transaction to September 20.

In general business game negotiations, it is not surprising that the operation of postponing the transaction deadline is not surprising, but the latest decision of the US government is still interpreted by the industry as the so-called "significant change" of Trump's aggressive and aggressive transaction.

　　Earlier on the 13th, Microsoft, which was the first to contact TikTok and reached a preliminary agreement, issued a statement saying that TikTok's parent company ByteDance has rejected Microsoft's invitation to acquire TikTok's US business.

Microsoft stated in its statement: "Bytedance today (September 13th, US time, September 14th, Beijing time) informed us that it will not sell TikTok's business in the US to Microsoft. We believe that our proposal will benefit TikTok users, while protecting national security interests."

　　According to the British "Financial Times" on September 14, three people familiar with the matter said that Bytedance has reached a preliminary "technical partner" agreement with Oracle of the United States on TikTok's US business, but this agreement does not include the entirety. Sell ​​TikTok.

Reuters subsequently released an exclusive report confirming that Oracle and ByteDance have reached an agreement. Oracle will act as ByteDance’s technology partner to manage TikTok’s business data in the United States to deal with the outflow of US business data to Beijing by the US authorities. worry.

　　US Treasury Secretary Mnuchin also confirmed in an interview with US media on the evening of September 14 that the US Treasury Department had received the relevant transaction plan last weekend (September 12-13). The Foreign Investment Committee under the Treasury Department (CFIUS) will start a review this week and submit recommendations to President Trump.

Mnuchin said that Oracle, as TikTok's trusted data security compliance partner, responded to the Trump administration's concerns about "national security issues."

At the same time, Oracle also promised to make TikTok a company headquartered in the United States and create 20,000 jobs for the United States.

Of course, this transaction still needs to pass the "national security review" requested by President Trump.

　　Oracle subsequently issued a statement confirming that it was a participant in the TikTok transaction plan proposed by ByteDance to the US Department of the Treasury and that they will act as a "reliable technology provider".

　　Why was the transaction cancelled by Microsoft, the first to make a move?

Why did Oracle come from behind to become the only open bidder for TikTok's North American business?

The US Consumer News and Business Channel (CNBC) reported that one of Oracle’s strengths lies in its important ties with the Trump administration. Its co-CEO Safra Katz served in Trump’s 2016 Transition team executive committee work.

"Entire sale" or "business reorganization"

　　Neither the US Secretary of the Treasury nor Oracle disclosed the specific details of the deal with TikTok, but a number of US and European media gave "reasonable analysis" on September 15.

　　CNN analyzed that the nature of the agreement between TikTok and Oracle is unclear, but it has not been described as an "acquisition" in the full sense.

The Washington Post stated that Oracle was "officially declared" by ByteDance as TikTok's "reliable technology partner" in the United States, and it did not involve the packaging and sale of TikTok as mentioned by Trump.

According to Reuters, Oracle will be responsible for managing TikTok's user data in the United States, and TikTok's core technology transfer is not involved... This means that Oracle may either only act as a service provider or reorganize with TikTok, and the two parties will coordinate equity and voting rights. Belong to.

　　Regarding the specific model of TikTok and Oracle's specific "cooperation", a more credible speculation is that the cooperation between TikTok and Oracle will be based on the "joint venture + data sharing" model: Oracle's acquisition of TikTok in North America, Five Eyes Alliance National and Indian businesses have less than 50% of the equity, ByteDance retains less than 50% of the equity, and the remaining tradable shares are publicly listed on NASDAQ.

At the same time, TikTok may consider transferring data and infrastructure outside of North America, Five Eyes Alliance countries, India and even China to Oracle Cloud.

This program was called by the American media as similar to Apple's data compliance program in China from Guizhou on the cloud.

In addition to Oracle, ByteDance's selected partners include Wal-Mart. The source said that the cooperation with Wal-Mart will mainly focus on e-commerce.

　　In this way, TikTok’s new trading plan does not seem to be a package sale requested by President Trump, and it is very likely that it does not have to be "closed and left." There has been a kind of "bytedance" that the US media calls "only selling cars but not selling." The new possibility of the engine's transaction.

　　Some US media analysts said that such a big reversal of the TikTok transaction may be related to two factors.

First, at the end of August, China issued the announcement of the "China's Export Prohibition and Restriction Technology Catalog", which completely "blocked" the US government's desire to obtain TikTok's algorithm.

Second, Bytedance has made it clear that it will file a legal action against the Trump administration for forced sales, and the two parties are likely to fall into a protracted "law war", which will make Trump hope to use this matter to achieve politics before the election in November this year. The effect is greatly reduced.

"Political Business" and "Business Politics"

　　TikTok has risen rapidly in the past few years, with nearly 2 billion downloads worldwide.

Especially in the United States, in June 2020 alone, its total monthly active users reached more than 91 million. In January 2018, only 11 million Americans were using TikTok.

Behind the numbers is the huge user traffic and profits, making it a "cake" that all major Internet companies in the United States want to grab.

　　When this big "cake" caught up with the US election year, Trump, who was eager to seek re-election and never needed a political fig leaf, chose to directly grab the "cake" for American companies.

This has also become another piece of evidence that he chanted "America first" to voters.

As for why Oracle was “selected” by Trump, CNN and other media disclosed that Oracle’s founder Larry Ellison had close contacts with Trump and was among the US Internet companies. Rarely are executives directly on the Trump platform. Ellison even hosted a campaign fundraiser for Trump at his home this year.

The company also hired people who had a "close relationship" with Trump, such as David Urban, one of the lobbyists, a classmate of US Secretary of State Pompeo at West Point; another lobbyist Ma Te Schragep’s wife, Mercedes Schragep, is a senior adviser to the Trump re-election team.

Matt Perrot, a former Facebook policy executive who currently teaches at Duke University, said that unlike many large technology companies, Oracle’s business model-selling software and services to companies and governments-can Allow him to establish a relationship with Trump without jeopardizing the company's brand.

　　Although Trump declined to say whether Oracle is better suited to acquire TikTok than Microsoft, he said last month that Oracle "definitely can handle this problem."

For Trump's approach, many American and British media criticized that hunting for TikTok is the most direct portrayal of the integration of Trump's American "political business" and "business politics", completely breaking the rules of the world.

　　On September 14, when talking about the sale of TikTok's US business, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said that the hunt for TikTok in the United States was a typical government coercion transaction.

He emphasized that on the one hand, individual politicians in the United States advocated to achieve fairness and equality and build a so-called "clean network", but on the other hand, they generalized the concept of national security, abused national power, and treated certain people without any evidence. Non-U.S. companies that have achieved a leading edge in one area have unreasonably suppressed and threatened in every way.

This has fully exposed the true intentions of a few US politicians and the ugly face of economic bullying.

China will firmly support relevant enterprises in safeguarding their legitimate rights and interests and firmly safeguarding international economic and trade rules.

　　Our newspaper, Beijing, September 16th

　　China Youth Daily·China Youth Daily reporter Chen Xiaoru Source: China Youth Daily