Yahoo Finance TikTok rescue deal casts plans for new London HQ into doubt
British hopes of attracting TikTok's global headquarters to London have been cast in doubt after Donald Trump's government said the social media company had promised to invest heavily in the US to secure backing for a tie-up with Californian technology giant Oracle.
Steven Mnuchin, the US Treasury Secretary, said he had received a "commitment" from the embattled Chinese video app "to create TikTok Global as a US headquartered company with 20,000 new jobs".
TikTok's Beijing-based parent company, ByteDance, had reportedly been in negotiations to set up a global HQ in the UK amid sustained hostility from the US government and a threat from President Trump to ban the app.
That idea appears to have been scuppered by TikTok's last-minute rescue deal with the Californian database company Oracle, based on Mr Mnuchin's claims, which he made in an interview with the US broadcaster CNBC.
TikTok said: "The discussions with the US government do not affect our commitment to the UK market, where we have rapidly grown our team throughout the year."
It added: "We can confirm that we've submitted a proposal to the Treasury Department which we believe would resolve the Administration's security concerns.
"This proposal would enable us to continue supporting our community of 100m people in the US who love TikTok for connection and entertainment, as well as the hundreds of thousands of small business owners and creators who rely upon TikTok."
TikTok currently has no global HQ, although it has major offices in London, Los Angeles and New York City. ByteDance is incorporated in the Cayman Islands, with its HQ in Beijing.
Losing TikTok's HQ would be a blow to Britain's hopes of making its name as a technology hub after Brexit, but might also be a relief for Government ministers, who had been divided over the plans.
