The deal between TikTok and a coalition of Oracle and Walmart, revealed Sept. 19, also includes some $5 billion being directed to education programs on “the real history of our country.”
Shortly before departing for a campaign rally in North Carolina, President Donald Trump said: “I have given the deal my blessing,” and added “it will have nothing to do with China.”
He went on: “It’ll be totally secure, that’s part of the deal.”
Trump told those attending the rally that the $5 billion education fund would teach “real history, not the fake history” – a dig at the New York Times’ 1619 project, which he recently announced will be answered by a more positive, America-honoring curriculum program for schools called 1776 Unites.
The deal will also turn TikTok into a new, Texas-based company, potentially creating 25,000 jobs, Trump said.
Oracle will hold a 12.5 percent share in the new company, TikTok Global, while Walmart will take 7.5 percent. Chinese firm ByteDance will retain roughly 80 percent of the new company, according to the Wall Street Journal. Since 40 percent of ByteDance is owned by U.S. investors, however, the new TikTok Global will technically have majority American ownership.
Any deal still needs to be accepted by Beijing.
Trump said that Oracle and Walmart are planning to set up a $5 billion fund “for the education of American youth.”
At his rally he said he had told company leaders: “do me a favor, could you put up $5 billion into a fund for education, so we can educate people as to real history of our country – the real history, not the fake history.”
Trump has previously railed against the The New York Times Magazine’s ‘1619 project’ which seeks to reframe US history around the consequences of slavery, and announced he will sign an order to promote patriotic education through an initiative dubbed the ‘1776 Commission’.
