Trump objected to the idea that Beijing-based ByteDance would retain a majority stake in TikTok.

President Trump has said that he would not approve a deal for TikTok if its Chinese owner ByteDance did not fully sell its interest in the product.

President Trump has said that he would not approve a deal for TikTok if its Chinese owner ByteDance did not fully sell its interest in the product.On Aug 6, President Trump issued an executive order banning transactions banning U.S. transactions with Chinese tech firms Tencent and ByteDance. Tencent owns the Chinese messaging app WeChat, and ByteDance is the Beijing-based parent company of the popular short video-sharing app TikTok. The executive orders cited that the apps posed a threat to national security. The Wall Street Journal explained that the White House had effectively given ByteDance a 45-day deadline to sell or restructure its U.S. TikTok operations or face a ban over the perceived security risk.

Around the same time, it was reported that Microsoft had held talks with ByteDance to acquire TikTok in the US. Soon after Walmart announced it was teaming up with Microsoft to buy TikTok and in mid-August Oracle also joined the fray to buy the social media app, CNBC reported. Microsoft ended its bid in mid-September after confirming that ByteDance would not sell its U.S. TikTok operations to the thus leaving Oracle and Walmart for the bid.

The announcement came that a new U.S.-based company called TikTok Global will be set up with Oracle holding a 12.5% stake and Walmart owning 7.5%. On Sept 19, it was reported that Trump had approved the deal in principle. However, ByteDance stated that it would own a majority stake of 80% in the new TikTok Global and that the company will be a subsidiary.

Regarding ByteDance continuing to maintain a majority stake in TikTok, Trump said, 'Conceptually I can tell you that I don’t like that. It has to be 100% as far as national security is concerned. I have to see the deal.' The New York Times reported that Trump had said that he would not approve a deal for TikTok if its Chinese owner did not fully sell its interest in the product.