27/09/2025

BIZ & FINANCE SATURDAY | SEPT 27, 2025

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Trump signs order for TikTok sale at US$14b

S. Korea weighs 24-hour forex trading amid pressure on won

SEOUL: South Korea’s president vowed to open its currency market for around the-clock trading, giving easier access to foreign investors as the country seeks to boost the domestic stock market and as stalled US trade talks weigh on the won. “There is quite a time limit in the currency trading market, but we plan to scrap nearly all of it,“ President Lee Jae Myung said on Thursday at an investor event in New York, according to a media pool report. Lee said the government would also address in the near future the lack of offshore won market – a main factor behind global index provider Morgan Stanley Capital International’s (MSCI) classification of South Korea as an emerging market. Since taking office, Lee’s adminis tration has brought various reforms to boost the domestic stock market, including setting up a task force to win developed market status from MSCI, which has sent the benchmark Kospi to a record high. South Korea had held a tight grip on currency policy after the destabilising capital flight seen during the Asian Financial Crisis in the late 1990s. However, it started to gradually open the onshore currency market to foreigners in the second half of 2024. Currently, the market is open from 9am local time to 2am the next day, compared with closing at 3:30pm previously, to cover London hours. The new trading hours would allow offshore transactions in the won and “create a 24-hour foreign exchange computer network within the Bank of Korea,“ which requires regulatory change but not parliamentary approval, Kim Jae-hwan, director-general at the finance ministry said. Lee’s comments also come amid stalled trade talks with the US over the foreign exchange implications of a US$350 billion (RM1.5 trillion) invest ment package promised by Seoul. The president earlier told Reuters the country might face a foreign exchange crisis if it accepted the terms the US demanded over the package. “South Korea is US$350 billion that’s up front,“ US President Donald Trump said on Thursday. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick recently discussed with Seoul the idea of slightly increasing the US$350 figure, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing sources. “Amid a strong dollar, the won is weakening faster as uncertainty is high over the US investment package,“ said Lee Min-hyeok, an analyst at KB Kookmin Bank. The won extended losses to its lowest level since mid-May to 1,414 per dollar yesterday, raising caution among market participants about intervention. The currency broke below the psychologically important level of 1,400 on Thursday. “There is caution, but it doesn’t seem authorities are capping the downside yet,“ one local currency dealer said. The benchmark Kospi stock index was also poised to record its biggest slump since early August, dropping more than 2% on US tariff worries. The benchmark 10-year treasury bond yield rose more than 10 basis points to 2.96%, the highest since mid March. – Reuters

will be responsible for e-commerce, branding operations and interconnection with international operations, the report said. The report also said the joint venture, as described by the White House and valued at US$14 billion, would be responsible for US digital security, safeguarding content and software as well as related local businesses. Another Chinese financial magazine Caixin also reported, citing people close to the deal, that ByteDance planned to set up a TikTok US entity that will receive some revenue from the new TikTok joint venture. The White House and ByteDance did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A group of three investors including Oracle and private-equity firm Silver Lake, will take a roughly 50% stake in TikTok US, two sources familiar with the deal said on Thursday. A group of existing shareholders in ByteDance will hold a roughly 30% stake, one of the sources said. Among ByteDance’s current investors are Susquehanna International Group, General Atlantic and KKR. Given intense investor interest in TikTok, the 50% stake may still shift, the source noted. Oracle and Silver Lake did not immediately respond to requests for comment. CNBC reported earlier, citing sources, that Abu Dhabi-based MGX, Oracle and Silver Lake are poised to be the main investors in TikTok US with a combined 45% ownership. MGX did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on the CNBC report. Republican House of Representatives lawmakers said they wanted to see more details of the deal to ensure it represented a clean break with China. The agreement on TikTok’s US operations includes the appointment by ByteDance of one of seven board members for the new entity, with Americans holding the other six seats, a senior White House official said earlier.

o Investors include Oracle and Silver Lake, as Washington seeks to safeguard American user data

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday declaring that his plan to sell Chinese-owned TikTok’s US operations to US and global investors will address the national security requirements in a 2024 law. The new US company will be valued at around US$14 billion (RM59 billion), Vice President JD Vance said, putting a price tag on the popular short video app far below some analyst estimates. Trump on Thursday delayed until Jan 20 enforcement of the law that bans the app unless its Chinese owners sell it amid efforts to extract TikTok’s US assets from the global platform, line up American and other investors, and win approval from the Chinese government. The publication of the executive order shows Trump is making progress on the sale of TikTok’s US assets, but numerous details need to be fleshed out, including how the US entity would use TikTok’s most important asset, its recommendation algorithm. “There was some resistance on the Chinese side, but the fundamental thing that we wanted to accomplish is that we wanted to keep TikTok operating, but we also wanted to make sure that we protected Americans’ data privacy as required by law,” Vance told reporters at an Oval Office briefing. Trump’s order says the algorithm will be retrained and monitored by the US company’s security partners, and operation of the algorithm will be under the control of the new joint venture. Trump said Chinese President Xi Jinping had indicated approval of the plans. “I spoke with President Xi,” Trump said. “We had a good talk, I told him what we were doing and he said go ahead with it.” The Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment. TikTok did not immediately comment on ISTANBUL: Turkish Airlines said yesterday it would order 75 Boeing 787 aircraft and had completed negotiations to buy 150 737 MAX planes, subject to engine talks, unveiling a long awaited deal after a meeting between the two countries’ leaders. President Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday met US President Donald Trump, who said he believed Türkiye would agree to his request to stop buying Russian oil and that he may lift US sanctions on Ankara so it can buy American F-35 jets. Trump said ahead of the talks that the Boeing Turkish Airlines is looking to boost its global reach and recently bought a minority stake in Spain’s Air Europa, outlasting its European rivals Lufthansa and Air France-KLM. In a statement to the Istanbul stock exchange, the carrier said it decided to purchase 75 wide body B787-9 and B787-10 models from US-based Boeing, consisting of 50 firm and 25 option orders. Deliveries are scheduled between 2029 and 2034. Negotiations were ongoing with Rolls-Royce and GE Aerospace regarding engines, spare engines and engine maintenance services for the planes, it said. Turkish Airlines also said it ended negotiations with Boeing on the purchase of another 150 order would also be under discussion. Looking to boost its global reach

Trump’s action. Trump has credited TikTok, which has 170 million US users, with helping him win re election last year. Trump has 15 million followers on his personal TikTok account. The White House also launched an official TikTok account last month. “This is going to be American-operated all the way,” Trump said. He said that Michael Dell, the founder, chairman and CEO of Dell Technologies; Rupert Murdoch, the chairman emeritus of Fox News owner Fox Corp and newspaper publisher News Corp, and “probably four or five absolutely world-class investors” would be part of the deal. The White House did not discuss how it came up with the US$14 billion valuation. TikTok’s Chinese parent ByteDance currently values itself at more than US$330 billion, according to its new employee share buyback plan. TikTok contributes a small percentage of the company’s total revenue. According to Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives, TikTok was estimated to be worth US$30 billion to US$40 billion without the algorithm as of April 2025. Alan Rozenshtein, a professor at the University of Minnesota Law School, said the executive order left unanswered questions, including whether ByteDance would still control the algorithm. “The problem is that the president has certified the deal, but he has not provided a lot of information on the algorithm,” he said. Chinese media yesterday also painted a different picture of the TikTok agreement, suggesting ByteDance would continue to play a major or operational role. ByteDance will set up a new US company as part of the restructuring of TikTok’s US operations, Chinese media outlet LatePost reported, citing sources. The new company to be set up by ByteDance

ByteDance would hold less than 20% in TikTok US to comply with requirements set out in the 2024 law that ordered it shut down by January 2025 if ByteDance did not sell its US assets. – Reuters Turkish Airlines orders 225 Boeing jets after US–Turkiye talks

Carrier bets on new-generation jets to boost efficiency and expand global network. – PEXELS PIX aircraft, consisting of 100 firm and 50 option orders for narrow-body 737-8/10 MAX models.

“With these orders, our entire fleet aims to consist of new-generation aircraft by 2035, thereby strengthening operational efficiency and supporting an average annual growth rate of around 6%,“ the company said yesterday. According to its 2023-2033 strategic plan, Turkish Airlines aims to expand its fleet to over 800 aircraft by 2033. It had 485 aircraft by the end of June, according to its latest presentation. In line with its strategic plan, the carrier said in May 2023 that it had started talks with the manufacturers in order to procure around 600 aircraft. It placed an order for 355 Airbus planes in December 2023. – Reuters

It said orders for the 737-8/10 MAX aircraft would be placed subject to the successful conclusion of discussions with engine manufacturer CFM International. Turkish Airlines shares were up 0.15% at 328.75 lira in Istanbul early yesterday. Expansion plans The deal has been a long time in the making, with the company’s chairman having revealed details on the planned purchase of 225 aircraft in June 2024.