• by Colin Kirkland , March 17, 2025

Oracle is reportedly the frontrunner to buy TikTok in the U.S.

According to The Information, which spoke with investors, bankers and former executives familiar with ByteDance, Oracle has “emerged as a leading contender to help run TikTok” per a deal President Donald Trump is promoting to honor last year's divest-or-ban law.

The report notes that the ByteDance-owned tech giant is also supportive of a partnership with Oracle, a cybersecurity company the TikTok owner previously partnered with on Project Texas, a plan designed last year to wall off U.S. TikTok user data from the Chinese government by storing it in the Oracle Cloud.

Trump has always favored Oracle as a potential buyer, having previously tried to sell the U.S. operations of TikTok to the tech company in 2020 after the onset of the COVID-19 outbreak.

Due to the law passed by the Biden administration earlier this year, and Trump's executive order seeking to delay TikTok's expiration/sell-off date by 75 days, a decision must be made to either sell or rid the platform for 170 million American users by April 5.

Last week, during an interview with NBC News, Vice President J.D. Vance said he expected a TikTok deal to be made by the April deadline.

Trump's extension of a selloff, however, was not technically legal, and a further extension could also be a possibility. There is also a proposal from Sen. Markey (D-Mass.) to push back the deadline by another 270 days.

In January, Trump said that he was open to Oracle founder and executive chairman Larry Ellison -- a longtime supporter of Trump and member of the president’s newly announced “Project Stargate” AI initiative -- buying TikTok.

While The Information's report suggests support from the Chinese government, CCP officials have publicly opposed any forced sale of TikTok, with Chinese Commerce Ministry spokesperson Shy Jueteng telling reporters in March that the government would require ByteDance “to seek governmental approval in accordance with Chinese regulations” for potential foreign ownership.

In addition, anonymous sources told Politico that if an Oracle deal were to happen, the company would be able to keep ByteDance's signature algorithm -- a win for creators and advertisers who have spent years building their communities and businesses on the app.