*

Trump administration working on plan to tap Oracle, US

investors

to take over TikTok, NPR says

*

Under reported deal, TikTok's Chinese owner ByteDance will

have

minority stake

*

NPR says terms of deal could change

(Adds background on TikTok-related law in US)

By Kanishka Singh

WASHINGTON, Jan 25 (Reuters) - The administration of

U.S. President Donald Trump is working on a plan to save TikTok

that involves tapping software company Oracle and a

group of outside investors to effectively take control of the

app's global operations, National Public Radio reported on

Saturday.

Under the deal being negotiated by the White House, TikTok's

China-based owner, ByteDance, would retain a minority stake in

the company, but the app's algorithm, data collection and

software updates would be overseen by Oracle, which already

provides the foundation of TikTok's Web infrastructure, NPR

reported.

The NPR report cited two people with knowledge of the talks.

The White House and Oracle had no immediate comment.

The short video app used by 170 million Americans was taken

offline temporarily for users shortly before a law that said it

must be sold by its Chinese owner ByteDance on national security

grounds, or be banned, took effect on Jan. 19.

Trump, after taking office a day later,

signed

an executive order seeking to delay by 75 days the

enforcement of the law that was put in place after U.S.

officials warned that under ByteDance, there was a risk of

Americans' data being misused.

The possible deal reported by NPR would mean that American

investors would own a majority stake in TikTok. However, the

report added that the terms of the deal could change and are

still being hammered out.

"The goal is for Oracle to effectively monitor and provide

oversight with what is going on with TikTok," a person directly

involved in the talks but not authorized to speak publicly was

quoted as saying by NPR.

"ByteDance wouldn't completely go away, but it would

minimize Chinese ownership."

Other potential investors who are engaged in the talks

include Microsoft ( MSFT ), NPR reported.

Officials from Oracle and the White House held a meeting on

Friday about a potential deal, and another meeting has been

scheduled for next week, NPR reported.

Oracle was interested in a TikTok stake "in the tens of

billions," but the rest of the deal is in flux, the NPR report

cited the source as saying.

Trump has said he "would like the United States to have a

50% ownership position in a joint venture" in TikTok.

NPR cited another source as saying that appeasing Congress

is seen as a key hurdle by the White House.

Free speech advocates

have opposed

TikTok's ban under a law passed by the U.S. Congress and

signed by former President Joe Biden.

The company says U.S. officials misstated its ties to

China, arguing its content recommendation engine and user data

are stored in the United States on cloud servers operated by

Oracle while content moderation decisions that affect American

users are also made in the U.S.