Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday outlining the terms of the sale of TikTok's US operations to several of his wealthy backers, while the Chinese platform's parent company will retain only a minority stake.

From the Oval Office, the US President assured that the American version of the platform would be managed by "very sophisticated" investors, such as Larry Ellison, head of the technology giant Oracle, Michael Dell, founder of the Dell Group, and media mogul Rupert Murdoch.

According to several media reports, investment firm Silver Lake Partners and Silicon Valley giant Andreessen Horowitz are also part of the deal.

According to the executive order released Thursday evening by the White House, ByteDance, TikTok's parent company, will retain a stake of "less than 20%."

The newcomers to the capital are all allies of Donald Trump and share his political views, but the US president insisted that the application would not be subject to any partisan orientation.

"Every group, every philosophy, every policy will be treated very fairly," Trump assured, conceding, however, that if he could, he would have made the social network "100% MAGA" ("Make America Great Again"), a reference to the movement he created.

The president confirmed that the US version of TikTok would feature a copy of the app's algorithm, considered the key to its success.

"Our fundamental goal was to keep TikTok running while ensuring that the privacy of Americans' data is protected, in accordance with the law," said US Vice President JD Vance on Thursday.

- "Support from China" -

Congress, which feared that Chinese authorities would access American users' data or modify the algorithm to influence them, passed a law in 2024 requiring TikTok to separate from ByteDance, or face a ban.

Donald Trump has repeatedly extended the deadline for reaching a recovery agreement. According to the executive order published Thursday, it now runs until January 23, 2026.

JD Vance, a former venture capitalist who led the team tasked with finding a solution for TikTok, said the US entity would be valued at around $14 billion, adding that investors would have the final say.

Asked whether the Chinese authorities had approved the agreement, Donald Trump said that President Xi Jinping had given the green light during a phone call last week.

"I have great respect for President Xi, and I greatly appreciate his approval of the agreement, because to get it done, we really needed China's support," he said.

During the phone call between the two presidents, Xi Jinping asked his American counterpart to avoid "unilateral" trade restrictions and to preserve a "non-discriminatory" climate for Chinese companies, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported.

"We hope the United States will provide an open, fair, and non-discriminatory business environment for Chinese companies investing in the United States," Guo Jiakun, a spokesman for Beijing's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told reporters on Friday after Donald Trump signed the executive order.

Contacted by AFP, ByteDance and TikTok did not immediately respond.