US president Donald Trump has poured cold water on the mooted Oracle and Walmart takeover of TikTok, demanding the US companies have total control over the app. 

TikTok narrowly escaped a US ban on the orders of the Trump administration on Sunday by agreeing a deal with US-based business Oracle and retailer Walmart. 

However, the move has since been thrown into doubt, with Chinese-based owner Bytedance saying it would retain an 80% stake in the new company, TikTok Global. 

President Trump said: “They will have nothing to do with it. And if they do, we just won’t make the deal.”

The president has threatened to ban the hugely popular app in the US on security grounds unless it was sold to US investors by the middle of September. 

The two main investors in the US, Oracle and Walmart, have said they will be taking a combined 20% stake. 

Trump, however, has insisted the two American companies will take full control.

“They are going to have total control of it. They are going to own the controlling interest.

“And then I guess they are going public and they are buying out the rest of it, they are buying out a lot. If we find that they don’t have total control, then we are not going to approve the deal.”

However, Bytedance called a complete takeover “false rumours” and said it would not only retain an 80% stake, but would also have full ownership of the algorithm powering the app.

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