TikTok could be heading toward an initial public offering subject to the deal between parent company ByteDance Ltd. and Oracle Corp. getting approval by the Trump administration.

The claim comes from CNBC, which reported today that TikTok Global would be listed on a U.S. stock exchange with Oracle owning a minority stake — less than 20% of the new company. Walmart Inc., which has also previously been reported to be in talks about investing in TikTok, would also take a stake in the new company under the proposed deal.

The ongoing saga surrounding TikTok and its operations in the U.S. all stems from an executive order signed by Trump that would ban TikTok as of Nov. 12 if it’s not sold. The deal between Oracle and ByteDance, first reported Sept. 13, involves Oracle becoming TikTok’s “trusted tech partner” in the U.S., but it didn’t involve an outright sale as per the requirements of the executive order.

That the U.S. operations of TikTok have not been sold may not preclude approval from the Trump administration, but its current status is all over the place depending on which report is to be believed. The New York Times reported that ByteDance has accepted changes to the deal presented by the U.S. Treasury Department to mitigate concerns in terms of national security risks, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that the deal will obtain approval from the White House. Separately, Fortune reported that Trump has turned against the deal, with Bloomberg also saying that the deal as its stands is seen as falling short in addressing administration concerns over national security.

Even presuming it does gain approval in the U.S., the deal faces another hurdle since it will also require approval from the Chinese government, ByteDance said today. There has been previous pushback from the ruling Chinese Communist Party, which updated export controls last month to give it a say over the transfer of technology such as TikTok’s algorithms.

In related TikTok news, the U.S. operations of the immensely popular viral short video sharing app continue to look for a new chief executive officer and a new name has popped up: Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom. According to the Times, an approach has been made and both TikTok and Systrom have held “preliminary” talks with no final decision made.

TikTok U.S. has been without a CEO since Kevin Mayer resigned in August after only three monthson the job. Having a U.S. CEO is part of the conditions required for TikTok to show that it is separate from ByteDance.

Photo: Aaron Yoo/Flickr