Top White House officials confirmed on Monday they’ve settled on a “framework” for an agreement to finally resolve the yearslong dispute over whether TikTok can and should be allowed to operate in the US – with critics raising concerns about everything from national security to teens’ mental health.

Just days before TikTok is set to be banned, a deal is now taking shape that would sell a controlling stake in the controversial app to US investors, which the White House believes satisfies a congressional law last year that bans the controversial app unless it separates itself from Beijing.

President Trump will be speaking with Chinese President Xi Jinping this Friday to confirm the framework’s details. Above, the two meeting in 2017 in Beijing. Xinhua News Agency via Getty Images

Sources say the situation remains fluid and details, including how the all-important algorithm is handled in the US company, could change.

The deal sets the stage for the creation of a new US company worth as much as $50 billion that would serve 172 million US users. Majority owners of the new firm will include billionaire Jeff Yass of Susquehanna International — a major backer of President Trump — and Bill Ford of General Atlantic Partners. A host of smaller investors are vying for equity slices, sources said.

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“Everyone and their dog wants a piece of this thing now that it looks like it will have the full blessing of Trump, Congress and the Chinese,” one potential investor told On The Money.

ByteDance, the Chinese outfit that created TikTok, will maintain a 19.9% interest in the new company. It will continue to maintain full ownership of TikTok’s other operations that boasts more than a billion monthly active users and has a market value of close to $300 billion even without the US unit.

While Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison will play a major role in housing the new US company in the tech giant’s “cloud,” it’s unclear whether he can take an equity stake while Oracle rents that space to TikTok. That’s why there’s talk that his son, Skydance founder David Ellison – fresh off his $8 billion purchase of Paramount and looking to complete a $50 billion deal to buy Warner Bros Discovery – could instead take the TikTok stake, sources said.

While Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison will play a major role in housing the new US company in the tech giant’s “cloud,” it’s unclear whether he can take an equity stake while Oracle rents that space to TikTok. Getty Images

Skydance founder David Ellison – fresh off his $8 billion purchase of Paramount and looking to complete a $50 billion deal to buy Warner Bros Discovery – could instead take the TikTok stake. Matt Baron/BEI/Shutterstock

The ownership of the algorithm – which has kept millions glued to the app as it churns out a relentless, addictive stream of short-form videos – has been a key sticking point in the negotiations in broader US-China trade talks.

US law prohibits the Chinese owned TikTok from operating in the US over espionage fears. But President Trump, a former TikTok critic, has issued a series of executive orders delaying the ban because he believes the platform helped him win the 2024 election by converting its young-leaning user base into MAGA voters.

“The big Trade Meeting in Europe between The United States of America, and China, has gone VERY WELL! It will be concluding shortly,” Trump wrote Monday in a post on Truth Social.

Majority owners of the new firm will include billionaire Jeff Yass of Susquehanna International — a major backer of President Trump. Susquehanna International Group

“A deal was also reached on a ‘certain’ company that young people in our Country very much wanted to save. They will be very happy!”

As reported Sunday by this reporter, Trump will issue another extension so that final details of the new TikTok arrangement can be worked out between US and Chinese negotiators led by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, and one-on-one between President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

People close to the deal say Trump may have to extend TikTok’s life more than the usual 90 days given the complexity of creating a new algorithm.

TikTok supporters on Capitol Hill in 2023, above. People close to the deal say Trump may have to extend TikTok’s life more than the usual 90 days given the complexity of creating a new algorithm. AFP via Getty Images

A White House spokesman and a spokeswoman for Bessent had no immediate comment.

Chinese president Xi at first refused to relinquish any control over the app, but agreed to the compromise seeking to end the trade stalemate with the US and pave the way for Trump to visit Beijing. Trump will be speaking with Xi this Friday to confirm the framework’s details.

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Some China hawks in the GOP continue to worry that TikTok’s algorithm enables the CCP surveillance state and fills users’ screens with anti-US propaganda. TikTok’s largest demographic group is between 18 and 24 years old, with a significant number under the age of 18 hooked on the app.

Administration officials believe the new structure will meet the very high bar set by bi-partisan legislation that was deemed constitutional by the US Supreme Court. The law states that the Chinese must have no control over TikTok for it to remain operational in the US. By recreating the algo, the new company would meet that requirement.

The latest extension was set to expire Wednesday and Trump had privately threatened to let the app go dark to gain leverage in the broader trade talks, until news broke late Sunday that a “framework” had been reached to keep TikTok operating.

That framework, according to investors briefed on the matter, hinges on a compromise: The new US investor group won’t directly own the original algo, but it can replicate it, divorce it from Chinese control and then use what’s essentially a US created app.

The post US, China near TikTok deal to finally resolve the question of app’s ‘secret sauce’ algorithm: sources appeared first on Our Story Insight.

Property owner Daija Insurance Group and hotel management company Hilton for the past few months touted a “spring” reopening, which our sources said would have been in May.

The mysterious postponement follows previous failures to reopen the hotel as far back as in 2021 as the owners first promised. It wasn’t clear whether a fatal construction accident in early January, which resulted in a Department of Buildings temporary stop-work order, contributed to the latest go-slow.

None of the delays are the fault of Hilton, which yearns to see the Art Deco Park Avenue landmark reopened as the flagship of its ever-growing, international Waldorf-Astoria Hotels & Resorts brand. Blame is instead due Chinese owners with little if any real estate expertise.

A spokesperson told us in December, “As we move closer to our opening date, we anticipate accepting reservations for dates beginning in spring 2025.” Christopher Sadowski

The Waldorf-Astoria had been touted by its owner and management company to reopen in May. AP

Anbang Insurance bought the property for nearly $2 billion in 2014 and closed it for restoration and partial condo conversion two years later. The Beijing bosses later imprisoned Anbang’s chief for fraud and corruption and replaced it with Daija.

Douglas Elliman, the exclusive marketing agent for the property’s 375 newly-created condo apartments, trumpeted this month that the first three unit sales had closed for a total of $7 million.

But the hotel’s reservation site lists no guest-room availability until Sept. 1. A spokesperson told us in December, “As we move closer to our opening date, we anticipate accepting reservations for dates beginning in spring 2025.” The reps didn’t get back to us this time.

Another question mark hangs over the Waldorf’s planned ground-floor American brasserie, named Lex Yards. It’s to be helmed by Gramercy Tavern chef Michael Anthony, whom we couldn’t reach.

The opening is supposed to coincide with the hotel reopening, but it wasn’t known whether the restaurant would open before the hotel’s guest rooms.

The mysterious postponement follows previous failures to reopen the hotel as far back as in 2021. LightRocket via Getty Images

Jane Street Capital’s 67% expansion to about 1 million square feet at Brookfield’s 250 Vesey St. lent a much-needed ray of optimism to the sagging downtown office market.

The lease, first reported by Bloomberg, ended suspense over where the global trading firm would stretch its wings. We previously wrote that Jane Street was exploring next-door 300 Vesey St. for growth.

Until last week’s signing, Downtown noticeably sat out Manhattan’s winter leasing boom. January saw overall borough activity of 2.61 million square feet, or 59% ahead of the five-year monthly average, according to CBRE.  

But large deals were all in Midtown and Midtown South, which recorded volume that was up 18% and an amazing 166% respectively over January 2024.

Downtown leasing in January was a paltry 315,000 square, down 3% over the month in 2024, CBRE reported.

You might be tired of Realty Check reporting giant restaurant leases before anyone else – such as our story last week about Morimoto returning to the city in a big way at 1255 Broadway– but here we go again.

Maple Hospitality Group signed a lease for 12,000 square feet at Vornado’s 1290 Sixth Ave. on the West 51st Street, south-facing side. MHG owns four different eatery brands including its Chicago flagship Maple & Ash, which is “redefining today’s steakhouse experience,” the company says.

MHG also owns modern-Italian restaurant  Monarch in Dallas. It wasn’t immediately known which concept will be at 1290 Sixth.

Vornado’s busy with $45 million in new tenants’ amenities at the tower where the Trump Organization holds a 30% passive stake. (The Maple restaurant will be completely public.) The tower’s 2 million square feet of offices are about 90% leased. Five Iron Golf recently signed for a 13,000 square-foot facility as we reported in September.

We wondered what would replace Charlie Palmer’s defunct steakhouse at the Durst Organization’s One Bryant Park. The team behind celebrated, three-location Japanese restaurant Momoya just signed for 5,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor space there, the landlord announced.

“For the first time since we opened One Bryant Park [in 2009], the spectacular restaurant space at the base of the building became available last year. We knew the Momoya team’s  vision would be a perfect fit for the Bryant Park neighborhood,” said Durst Organization president Jody Durst. Momoya president KwangHo Lee cited the tower’s “architectural distinction and substantial commercial potential of the location.”

Lee operates Momoya locations  in Chelsea, Soho and the Upper West Side, as well as high-end kaiseki spot Kappo Sono in Union Square and three outposts of casual sushi concept Happy Tuna.

It wasn’t yet known what form the new restaurant will be when it opens later this year. The space will be completely redesigned, Durst said.

One Bryant Park’s 2.35 million-square feet are fully leased. Sinvin Real Estate’s Christopher Owles repped the Momoya group. Durst was repped in-house by Tom Bow, Rocco Romeo, and Nora Caliban.

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“Nobody in the Congress should be able to make money in the stock market while they’re in the Congress,” Biden told the “More Perfect Union” podcast.

“I don’t know how you look your constituents in the eye and know because of the job they gave you, gave you an inside track to make more money,” Biden said, adding: “I think we should be changing the law.”

President Biden said he supports a ban on members of Congress and their spouses trading stock while in office. AP

The interview was conducted by Faiz Shakir, a political adviser for Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and published by A More Perfect Union, a pro-labor advocacy and journalism organization.

It’s unclear what impact Biden’s statement could have, coming only a month before his term ends.

Biden had previously declined to take a position on congressional stock trading.

His fellow Democrat, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, initially opposed proposals that lawmakers and their spouses be banned from trading stocks.

Pelosi, who is married to venture capitalist Paul Pelosi, insisted that her husband makes stock trades independently and that she has no involvement. She said in December 2021 that there is a “free market” that members of Congress “should be able to participate in.”

Speculation about Pelosi’s future in Congress has ramped up in recent days after the 84-year-old congresswoman from San Francisco underwent hip replacement surgery in Europe earlier this week.

Lawmakers have often flouted lax rules that govern stock trading while serving in office. UPI

Pelosi suffered a fall while on a trip to Luxembourg over the weekend, breaking her hip.

Financial disclosure forms showed that Paul Pelosi, who is said to be worth in excess of $275 million, sold 2,000 shares of Visa stock worth between $500,000 and $1 million on July 1. In September, the Justice Department announced it was suing Visa for alleged antitrust violations.

Since 2021, Pelosi has softened her stance amid backlash, coming out in support of strengthening an existing law, the Stock Act, which requires lawmakers to disclose their stock sales and purchases.

She has also called for extending stock trading disclosure requirements to members of the judiciary, while stiffening penalties for members of Congress who flout the rules.

Relations between Biden and Pelosi, who were once close, are said to have been ruptured after the former speaker played a key role in nudging the president from the race earlier this year due to concerns over his age and mental acuity.

Pelosi told news outlets that she intended for the Democrats to stage a quick primary process following Biden’s decision to step aside, but his swift endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris frustrated those plans.

Biden’s support for a ban marks somewhat of a pivot for the president, who has been largely noncommittal on the issue.

When Jen Psaki served as White House press secretary two years ago, she said Biden would “let members of leadership in Congress and members of Congress determine what the rules should be.”

Biden has long declined to take a position on the issue. His fellow Democrat, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, initially opposed a sweeping ban. AFP via Getty Images

A bipartisan proposal to ban trading by members of Congress and their families has dozens of sponsors, but it has not received a vote.

Although lawmakers are required to disclose stock transactions exceeding $1,000, they’re routinely late in filing notices and sometimes don’t file them at all.

Shakir said he admired Biden for having not “gone in early on Google, and Boeing, and Microsoft, and Nvidia, and, you know, Amazon” while he was a US senator from Delaware, a position he held for 36 years.

Pelosi is married to venture capitalist Paul Pelosi. The couple is said to have a net worth in excess of $275 million. Chris Kleponis – CNP / MEGA

Biden said he lived on his Senate salary instead of playing the stock market.

Trading in Congress has long been criticized by government watchdogs, who say the access to nonpublic information creates a temptation for lawmakers to prioritize their own finances over the public good.

Public anger has mounted since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, when some lawmakers were caught buying and selling millions of dollars worth of stock after being warned about the coming disruption from the virus.

With Post wires

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