TikTok has taken a decisive step towards securing its future in the United States after its Chinese owner, ByteDance, signed binding agreements with a group of US and international investors to operate the app’s American business.
In a memo to staff on Thursday, TikTok’s chief executive, Shou Zi Chew, confirmed that the deal will see a new joint venture take control of the platform’s US operations, bringing to an end years of political uncertainty and the threat of an outright ban on national security grounds. The transaction is expected to complete on 22 January.
Under the agreement, a consortium of investors including Oracle, Silver Lake and Abu Dhabi-based MGX will collectively own half of the new entity. ByteDance will retain a 19.9 per cent stake, while the remaining shares will be held by affiliates of existing ByteDance investors. Oracle, Silver Lake and MGX will each take a 15 per cent holding.
The deal aligns with a framework unveiled in September, when US President Donald Trump delayed enforcement of legislation that would have banned TikTok unless its US operations were sold. That law, passed by Congress in April 2024 under the Biden administration, had been due to take effect on 20 January 2025 but was repeatedly postponed as negotiations continued.
TikTok said the agreement would allow “over 170 million Americans to continue discovering a world of endless possibilities” on the platform. The White House has previously indicated that Oracle will license TikTok’s recommendation algorithm as part of the arrangement, with safeguards designed to address concerns over foreign influence and data security.
The path to the deal has been marked by geopolitical tension. Trump said in September that he had spoken directly with Chinese president Xi Jinping, claiming Beijing had given its approval. However, the app’s fate remained uncertain after US-China relations were strained by trade disputes and broader strategic rivalry.
Alvin Graylin, a lecturer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said the agreement reflected a shift in tone between the two powers. He described TikTok as having become “a bargaining chip in the wider US-China relationship”, adding that China’s approval now looked like “calibrated de-escalation” rather than capitulation.
Not everyone is convinced the deal resolves underlying concerns. Senator Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon, warned that the agreement may do little to protect Americans’ data privacy or prevent algorithmic influence. TikTok has said its recommendation system will be retrained on US user data to reduce the risk of external manipulation.
Among creators and businesses that rely on the platform, reaction has been cautious but hopeful. Tiffany Cianci, a small business owner with hundreds of thousands of followers on TikTok, said she hoped the new ownership structure would preserve the platform’s appeal to entrepreneurs. TikTok estimates that more than seven million small businesses in the US use the app to market their products and services.
With the deal now signed, TikTok appears to have bought itself stability in its largest overseas market. Whether the new structure fully satisfies lawmakers, regulators and users alike will become clear only after the joint venture begins operating under its new ownership.
