TikTok Agrees to Deal to Cede Control of U.S. Business to American Investor Group

TikTok has reached a deal to cede a substantial portion of its U.S. operations to a group of American investors, ending a years-long dispute in which the federal government sought to compel the platform to do so.

The new partnership is described as a “new TikTok U.S. joint venture” in an internal memo from ByteDance CEO Shou Chew, which TechCrunch viewed.

That arrangement will give major American investors significant control of the U.S.-based business. The newly formed investor group includes cloud giant Oracle, the tech-focused private equity firm Silver Lake, and MGX, an Abu Dhabi-based investment firm focused on AI. Together, those companies will own 45% of the U.S. operation, while ByteDance retains nearly 20% of the share, the memo states. The new entity formed by this partnership has been dubbed “TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC.”

That new entity will be responsible for overseeing the app, including data protection, algorithm security, content moderation, and software assurance, the memo states. “A trusted security partner will be responsible for auditing and validating compliance with the agreed-upon National Security Terms, and Oracle will be the trusted security partner upon completion of the transaction,” the document says.

The closing date for the deal is listed as January 22, 2026. Axios initially reported the news.

Much of the deal, as described in the memo, mirrors the language of an executive order signed by President Trump in September. That memo similarly approved the sale of TikTok’s U.S. operations to an American investor group. CNBC previously reported that Oracle, Silver Lake, and MGX would be the primary investors in the deal. Until now, ByteDance has not disclosed details of such a deal, except to say it would comply with U.S. law to ensure TikTok remains available to U.S. users.

The U.S. government has long sought to separate TikTok’s U.S.-based business from its Chinese parent company, citing national security concerns as the rationale.