Oracle’s TikTok acquisition reportedly “shelved” indefinitely

Enlarge / \_()_/ (credit: Aurich Lawson / Getty Images)

The weird deal Oracle arranged at the behest of the Trump administration to buy TikTok without actually acquiring it has been permanently back-burnered, according to a new report.

The transaction, which has gone effectively nowhere since it was first announced, is now "shelved," the ever-popular "people familiar with the situation" told The Wall Street Journal. This move effectively puts an end to a saga that played out over many months and many tweets.

Back in August 2020 (roughly a hundred years ago, it now feels like), former President Donald Trump issued an executive order declaring TikTok and another China-based app, WeChat, to be a "national emergency." A week later, a second order (PDF) gave TikTok's parent company, Beijing-based ByteDance, 90 days to divest the app to a US owner or cease operations in the States.

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