Majority American-Owned Entity Established with Oracle, Silver Lake, and MGX Leading Investors; ByteDance Retains Minority Stake

January 23, 2026 | Washington, D.C. — In a major development that ends years of uncertainty, TikTok's parent company ByteDance has finalized a deal to create a new majority American-owned joint venture for its U.S. operations, allowing the popular short-video app to continue serving over 200 million American users without facing a ban.

The agreement, announced on January 22, 2026, establishes TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC, which will oversee U.S. user data, the app, and key algorithms under strict national security safeguards. This move complies with an executive order signed by President Donald Trump in September 2025 and addresses long-standing concerns about potential Chinese government access to American user data.

Under the terms of the deal, American and global investors will hold 80.1% ownership of the joint venture, while ByteDance retains a 19.9% minority stake—ensuring no Chinese entity has controlling interest. Key managing investors include:

- Oracle, holding 15%
- Private equity firm Silver Lake, holding 15%
- Abu Dhabi-based investment firm MGX, holding 15%

Additional investors include the Dell Family Office, Vastmere Strategic Investments (affiliated with Susquehanna International Group), Alpha Wave Partners, Revolution, and others.

The joint venture will implement robust protections, including storing U.S. user data in Oracle's secure cloud environment, conducting third-party cybersecurity audits, adhering to standards like NIST and ISO 27001, and retraining the content recommendation algorithm on U.S. data within a secured environment. Content moderation and software assurances for American users will also fall under the new entity's control.

This resolution follows a turbulent history: In 2024, Congress passed—and then-President Joe Biden signed—a law requiring ByteDance to divest TikTok's U.S. operations or face a ban, citing national security risks. The app briefly went dark in January 2025 before President Trump, upon returning to office, issued executive orders delaying enforcement while negotiations continued. Trump designated the arrangement as a "qualified divestiture" and set a final January 23, 2026, deadline for completion.

TikTok emphasized that American users will experience no disruption, continuing to use the same app to create, discover content, and engage with the community—including support for 7.5 million U.S. businesses relying on the platform.

The deal, reportedly valued at around $14 billion for the U.S. entity, has been welcomed by some as a pragmatic solution but has raised questions among critics about whether it fully severs ties with ByteDance, particularly regarding the algorithm (which will be licensed and retrained locally).

President Trump has previously expressed support for the arrangement, thanking Chinese leadership for approvals that enabled the transaction.

With the joint venture now operational, TikTok's future in the United States appears secure for the foreseeable future, marking the end of a multiyear saga that intertwined technology, geopolitics, and national security.