Majority stake in TikTok's U.S. business sold ahead of divest-or-ban deadline
by Darryl Coote · UPIJan. 22 (UPI) -- Following years of wrangling and political uncertainty, TikTok announced Thursday that its China-based parent company, ByteDance, has sold its majority stake in the U.S. business rights of its social media platform to a group of non-Chinese investors.
The announcement was made a day before the deadline set by the Trump administration for the sale of TikTok's U.S. business rights or for the service to be pulled from smartphone application shelves and go dark in the United States.
TikTok has been a target of President Donald Trump since his first administration, due to its mass collection of data on U.S. users and fears ByteDance could be compelled to hand it over to China, representing a national security threat.
A divest-or-ban bill was then passed by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Joe Biden in 2024, spurring negotiations for TikTok to sell its U.S. operations. Once Trump returned to the White House in January 2025, he extended the deadline four times to allow TikTok divestment negotiations to continue, with the most recent deadline set for Friday.
Coinciding with the sale was the creation of a joint venture with a legal obligation to protect and secure U.S. data.
The newly created and majority American-owned TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC "will operate under defined safeguards that protect national security through comprehensive data protections, algorithm security, content moderation and software assurances for U.S. users," TikTok said in a statement Thursday.
The three managing investors are U.S. private equity firm Silver Lake Technology Management, U.S. tech giant Oracle and Abu Dhabi-based MGX Fund Management, each of which holds 15% of the venture. Dell Family Office investment firm, Vastmere Strategic Investments, Alpha Wave Partners and several other investors round out the consortium.
ByteDance retains nearly 20% of the joint venture.
The value of the deal was not made public.
"TikTok USDS Joint Venture's mandate is to secure U.S. user data, apps and the algorithm through comprehensive data privacy and cybersecurity measures," TikTok said.
"It will safeguard the U.S. content ecosystem through robust trust and safety policies and content moderation while ensuring continuous accountability through transparency reporting and third-party certifications."
Functionally and legally, there will be two TikTok platforms, one operating in the United States and one for the rest of the world, though the user is not expected to notice a difference.
According to TikTok, the joint venture ensures U.S. users receive "a global TikTok experience." TikTok global's U.S. entities will manage global product interoperability and certain commercial activities, while the joint venture will operate as an independent entity, it said.
The joint venture's seven-member majority-American board of directors has been named as Shou Chew, CEO of TikTok; Timothy Dattels, senior advisor to TPG Global; Mark Dooley, managing director at Susquehanna International Group; Egon Durban, co-CEO of Silver Lake; Raul Fernandez, president and CEO of DXC Technology; Kenneth Glueck, an executive at Oracle; and David Scott, chief strategy and safety officer at MGX.
Adam Presser has been named CEO of the joint venture and Will Farrell has been named its chief security officer.
Chew took to TikTok on Thursday night to thank the platform's users for continuing to log in to their services.
"We are grateful to have you as part of our TikTok community, and are looking forward to seeing more of your creative spirit, great storytelling and bringing joy to everyone, everywhere," he said in a recorded statement.
Trump late Thursday was quick to praise the deal, saying he was "so happy to have helped in saving TikTok," while asking to be remembered by those who use the service.
"It will now be owned by a group of Great American Patriots and Investors, the Biggest in the World, and will be an important Voice," Trump said on his Truth Social media platform.
He also thanked President Xi Jinping of China "for working with us and, ultimately, approving the Deal."
"He could have gone the other way, but he didn't, and is appreciated for his decision," he said.
China's foreign ministry said in a statement following a mid-September meeting between Xi and Trump that Beijing's position on TikTok was clear: "The Chinese government respects the will of enterprises and is happy to see enterprises do a good job in business negotiations on the basis of market rules and reach a solution that is in line with Chinese laws and regulations and a balance of interets."
The sale seemingly bring to an end the long drama of the app's use in the United States.
TikTok became submerged in U.S. politics.
During his first term, Trump targeted TikTok, as well as China-based WeChat, with transaction bans, resulting in litigation that blocked the ban followed by Biden revoking it.
Then, Republican-led states moved to ban the platform from state-owned electronic devices, but the movement slowly gained Democratic support amid national security fears, and the Biden administration in late February 2023 order all federal agencies to purge government devices of the app.
Congress passed and Biden signed the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act in April 2024 that designated TikTok "a foreign adversary controlled application" and prohibited the distribution, maintaining or providing Internet hosting services to such services, forcing a divest-or-ban decision.
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From left to right, Discord CEO Jason Citron, Snap CEO Evan Spiegel, TikTok CEO Shou Chew, X CEO Linda Yaccarino and Meta CEO of Meta Mark Zuckerberg are sworn in before a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on "Big Tech and the Online Child Sexual Exploitation Crisis" at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on January 31, 2024. Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo