TikTok has reportedly chosen a buyer

CNBC reports that TikTok has chosen a buyer for its U.S., New Zealand and Australian business.

The deal, which is reportedly worth between $20 billion to $30 billion, is expected to be announced as soon as tomorrow.

It is not clear who the ultimate winner will be, but Microsoft+Walmart and Oracle are expected to be the main contenders.

Oracle is reportedly offering $10 billion in cash, $10 billion in Oracle stock and 50% of annual TikTok profit for 2 years, to be paid to ByteDance. Globally TikTok reported revenue of $17 billion in 2019, has more than 800 million active users worldwide, and is believed to be worth around $100 billion.

The deal has been complicated by an announcement by China that TikTok’s personalization algorithm would be subject to export restrictions, meaning whoever buys TikTok’s customers may be getting a shell of the company without the technology to make it work.  The algorithm is reportedly 15 million lines of machine-learning code written in Java.

Last week TikTok’s CEO Kevin Mayer, resigning, saying: “As we expect to reach a resolution very soon, it is with a heavy heart that I wanted to let you all know that I have decided to leave the company.”

Currently, ByteDance has until the 12th November to close the deal or face complete closure of its US operations.