TikTok, the short-form video app with more than 170 million users in the United States, will be mostly owned and controlled by American investors under a new deal with China. The company’s management, data storage and rules will be run from the US to ease concerns about Chinese influence.
Under this new agreement, a consortium led by Oracle, Silver Lake and Andreessen Horowitz will hold an 80% stake in a newly created company that will run TikTok’s US operations. ByteDance, the Chinese parent company, will retain the remaining 20% through a licensing arrangement that allows it to provide the app’s technology but not operational control.
The new company will have a board dominated by American directors, including one chosen by the US government. US users will be asked to switch to a standalone version of the app that looks identical to TikTok’s global platform but operates on a separate infrastructure and US-specific recommendation system. Oracle will host American user data at its facilities in Texas.
The agreement follows months of negotiations and comes after President Donald Trump extended the deadline for TikTok’s divestment until 16 December. Without a deal, the app faced a ban under a 2024 law that requires ByteDance to sell its US operations.
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Click to signupChina has described the arrangement as a “win-win” but stressed that transfers of intellectual property and algorithms will be subject to its export controls. The compromise allows ByteDance to keep ownership of its core technology while handing over management of American user data and content moderation.
Negotiators are expected to finalise the details ahead of a planned meeting between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping later this year.
