Chinese owner ByteDance announced on Thursday that it has finalized a deal to create a US-owned joint venture, ensuring that American user data will remain in the United States, a move designed to prevent the shutdown of the popular short-video app in the US.
TikTok currently has over 200 million American users, making the app a major player in the US social media landscape.
The deal marks a critical milestone for the company after multi-year tensions that began in August 2020, when then-President Donald Trump attempted to ban TikTok over national security concerns. Later, Trump chose not to enforce a law passed in April 2024, which required ByteDance to sell its US assets by January of the following year or face closure. The law had support from the US Supreme Court.
According to ByteDance, the new entity, TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC, will protect US user data, applications, and algorithms through robust data privacy and cybersecurity measures.
Details about the separation process were limited, but Trump praised the agreement on social media, stating that TikTok will now be “owned by patriotic American investors, the largest in the world.” He also thanked Chinese President Xi Jinping for cooperating and approving the deal, noting that Xi “could have acted differently, but did not, and this is appreciated.”
Under the agreement, American and international investors will hold 80.1% of the joint venture, while ByteDance retains 19.9% of the shares. The three managing investors — Oracle, Silver Lake, and Abu Dhabi-based MGX — will each hold 15%.
A White House official confirmed to Reuters that the deal has been approved by both the US and Chinese governments.
TikTok also revealed other investors in the joint venture, including Dell Family Office, Vastmere Strategic Investments, Alpha Wave Partners, Revolution, Merritt Way, Via Nova, Virgo LI, and NJJ Capital.
Leadership appointments for the new USDS venture include Adam Presser as CEO and Will Farrell as Chief Security Officer, while TikTok CEO Shou Chew will serve on the board, overseeing global business operations and strategy.
