TikTok Global plans to hold a public listing, its Chinese parent company ByteDance said Monday, after announcing a deal over the weekend that would avert a shutdown of the popular app in the US.

The agreement, which has been approved by Donald Trump, sees Silicon Valley giant Oracle become the data partner for the video-sharing platform while Walmart becomes a commercial partner, creating a new US company called TikTok Global.

On Monday, ByteDance said in a statement on social media that TikTok Global plans to launch a "small round of pre-IPO financing", after which it would become an 80 percent-owned subsidiary of ByteDance.

The company added that the board of directors of TikTok Global includes ByteDance founder Zhang Yiming, along with its current directors and the CEO of Walmart.

"TikTok Global will also launch a listing plan to further enhance its corporate governance structure and transparency," the statement said. It did not say how much it intended to raise or where it plans to list.

Bloomberg News reported that Bytedance was seeking a valuation of $60 billion for TikTok, citing a person familiar with the matter.

TikTok -- which became a global phenomenon with its brand of short, addictive phone videos -- has come under fire in recent months as tensions escalate between China and the west.

Trump has claimed TikTok is collecting user data for Beijing, without providing evidence, and in early August gave ByteDance until September 20 to hand over TikTok's US operations to an American company.

ByteDance, under pressure in China not to give in to US demands, set out to clarify "rumours" on Monday after details of the deal were announced. It said the current plan "does not involve the transfer of any algorithms and technologies".

While Oracle has the authority to check the source code of TikTok in the US, ByteDance said displaying the source code is a way for multinationals to allay local data security concerns.

ByteDance added that a "so-called tax payment of $5 billion to the US Treasury" was a forecast of corporate income tax and other operating taxes TikTok would need to pay for business development.

Millions of US users to be hit by WeChat block
Washington (AFP) Sept 19, 2020 - Washington's crackdown on WeChat will disrupt communications between millions of people in the United States and their friends, families and business partners in China.

But the app had not managed to reproduce in the US its success in China as the dominant smartphone-based payments platform.

The US Commerce Department announced partial bans on Friday on WeChat as well as video app TikTok.

The order will slow down WeChat to make it unuseable in the United States for videochats with family and friends.

"They are slowing the speed to technically make it virtually impossible to use audio, video, or send images," said Wu Ziyi, a Chinese graduate student in political science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

- Universal app -

In China, WeChat took the country toward cashless commerce in just a few years, and it is used by hundreds of millions for everyday payments.

It is a kind of universal app, a digital bank account and identification card, for ordering food or a car, sending gifts, managing medical issues, and interfacing government services.

Owned by technology giant TenCent, WeChat in the United States has around 19 million active daily users, said Adam Blacker of Apptopia, a mobile apps consultant.

"It's mostly used by Chinese visiting or working here or by Chinese-Americans staying in touch with their relatives," said William Reinsch of the Center for Strategic and international Studies in Washington.

That includes several hundred thousand Chinese students in the US, who use it for "at least 90 percent" of their daily online conversations, according to Wu.

He said that it can be used to exchange small amounts of money.

But it cannot be connected to a US bank account or credit or debit card, and because it only works in Chinese yuan.

US businesses also use WeChat for communications with Chinese suppliers, and can possibly use it for payments, though other services -- like the Alipay function of TenCent rival Alibaba -- are better built to handle large sums and foreign exchange.

If US businesses do use its payments function, said Reinsch, "I haven't heard of anybody complaining that they might be stopped from doing that."

Now, under the Commerce Department order, WeChat cannot be used for transferring money inside the United States.

Reinsch said US businesses were mainly concerned that the long-flagged crackdown would apply to use of WeChat outside the United States, which would hamstring their China businesses.

That usage appears to still be allowed.

- Tough competition in US -

WeChat did once try to break into the US payments market, but made few inroads due to resistance by banks and merchants, regulations that favor credit and debit cards over digital wallets, and stiff competition.

In 2018 the company declared its WeChat Pay app was poised to take off, especially in brand-name shops where Chinese tourists abound, hoping to leverage that for a broader expansion.

The gambling and tourism conglomerate Caesars Entertainment began taking WeChat payments at restaurants, shops and entertainment venues in Las Vegas, aiming to help Chinese tourists spend their money.

But with US-based rivals like Zelle, Venmo and Apple Pay contesting the market, WeChat barely registered, and Caesars appears to have given it up.

The company did not respond to a query on WeChat.

Wu said Chinese in the United States might still find ways to use the app, through VPN networks or by other means, but most are already moving to other chat apps for communications with families back home.

"My family is very traditional, so we will probably just go back to the phone call," he sighed.

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As deadline looms, scramble on TikTok deal structure
Washington (AFP) Sept 18, 2020
Amid a looming deadline set by President Donald Trump, negotiators scrambled to find a new ownership structure for the popular video app TikTok that would pass muster in both the United States and China. A deal appeared to be taking shape this week that would allow Silicon Valley-based Oracle to be the US technology partner for TikTok to allay Washington's concerns that the platform could be used for Chinese espionage. But details of the deal remained unclear. Some reports said Oracle would be a ... read more