With an April 5 deadline looming for the TikTok ban, President Donald Trump will reportedly be briefed on a plan to keep the hit video app running. Oracle stock traded higher Wednesday as the database software and cloud-computing company remained the front-runner for a White House-led deal.
Trump will review a framework for a deal that would see Oracle and several other investors, including Blackstone, join with TikTok's existing U.S. investors to make an offer to TikTok's Chinese parent company ByteDance, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing unnamed sources.
TikTok is operating in the U.S. under a temporary reprieve from a 2024 law that bans the short video app unless ByteDance divests ownership. President Trump delayed enforcement of the ban for 75 days on his first day in office Jan. 20, allowing TikTok to restart operations for its more than 170 million U.S. users after a brief shutdown.
TikTok Ban Seen As Poker Chip For China Relations
The deal is certain to be a complicated one. It would likely require a sign-off from the Chinese government.
"We view TikTok as one of the biggest and first chips on the poker table around U.S./China relations, which have many complex facets to navigate over the coming years under the Trump Administration," Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives wrote to clients late Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Trump will announce broad tariff plans later today in an event he has dubbed "Liberation Day."
In that context, Ives wrote that "The TikTok situation must be carefully handled by the Trump White House to keep a friendly U.S./China tone heading into a potential meeting/summit likely in the June time frame."
Why Is Oracle A TikTok Suitor?
Ives said Trump could likely extend the deadline for a TikTok deal.
"There are a host of bidders for the TikTok golden asset, but we continue to strongly believe any deal is structured and centered around Oracle and (Oracle Chairman Larry) Ellison," Ives wrote.
Oracle hasn't formally expressed interest in TikTok. But the tech giant has been linked to TikTok in several reports. Oracle Chairman Larry Ellison joined Trump for a White House press conference in late January announcing an AI-focused private joint venture called Stargate. During the news conference, Trump said he'd be open to Ellison buying TikTok.
Oracle has a previous agreement with TikTok to host U.S. TikTok user data on servers in the U.S., which was called Project Texas.
The potential new deal has been dubbed "Project Texas 2.0," Politico reported in March. Oracle would oversee data for American users and ensure the Chinese government does not have access, according to the Politico report.
TikTok, which launched to American users in 2016, reported more than $10 billion in advertising sales last year in the U.S., as estimated by the research firm EMarketer. It is worth between $30 billion to $40 billion if sold without the "golden jewel algorithm," according to estimates from Wedbush and Ives on Tuesday.
Along with Blackstone, venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz could also join the deal, according to a Tuesday report from the Financial Times.
Oracle Stock Down 15% In 2025
On the stock market today, Oracle stock is up more than 1% at 144.25 in recent trades. Shares reversed higher after opening down 2%.
But Oracle stock has been trading below its 200-day moving average since the middle of March amid an eight-week slump. Shares are down 15% overall this year entering Wednesday trading.
This year has been a letdown for investors after Oracle stock rallied 60% in 2024. That was the company's biggest annual gain since 1999. Investors generally focus on Oracle's ability to capture AI-related demand for its cloud infrastructure business. But stocks that rallied because of AI excitement last year are struggling in the current market.
