TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, announced on Thursday that it has finalized an agreement to create a majority U.S.-owned joint venture designed to safeguard American user data and prevent a potential ban of the short-video platform, which is used by more than 200 million people in the United States.
The agreement marks a major turning point for TikTok after years of political and legal challenges that began in August 2020, when U.S. President Donald Trump first sought to ban the app over national security concerns.
Trump later chose not to enforce legislation passed in April 2024 that required ByteDance to divest its U.S. TikTok assets by January 2025 or face a ban. That law was later upheld by the Supreme Court.
Under the deal, a new entity named TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC will oversee the protection of U.S. user data, applications, and algorithms through enhanced data privacy and cybersecurity safeguards. ByteDance provided limited details on the divestment structure.
Trump welcomed the agreement in a social media post, stating that TikTok “will now be owned by a group of Great American Patriots and Investors.” He also thanked Xi Jinping for approving the deal, saying cooperation from China was instrumental to its completion.
According to ByteDance, American and global investors will collectively hold 80.1% of the joint venture, while ByteDance will retain a 19.9% stake. The venture’s three managing investors—Oracle, Silver Lake, and MGX—will each own 15%.
A White House official confirmed that both U.S. and Chinese authorities approved the agreement. The Chinese Embassy in Washington declined to comment immediately.
The White House previously said the joint venture would operate TikTok’s U.S. app, though key aspects of the relationship between the venture and ByteDance—such as long-term business arrangements—have not yet been disclosed.
Trump, who has more than 16 million followers on TikTok, has credited the platform with supporting his reelection campaign. The White House also launched an official TikTok account in August, further signaling a shift in the administration’s stance toward the app.
TikTok said additional investors include Dell Family Office, led by Michael Dell, along with Vastmere Strategic Investments, Alpha Wave Partners, Revolution, Merritt Way, Via Nova, Virgo LI, and NJJ Capital.
Former TikTok executives Adam Presser and Will Farrell were appointed chief executive officer and chief security officer of the venture, respectively. TikTok CEO Shou Chew was also named to the board.
The joint venture will retrain, test, and update TikTok’s recommendation algorithm using U.S. user data, with the algorithm secured on Oracle’s U.S.-based cloud infrastructure.
Previously, Reuters reported that ByteDance would retain ownership of TikTok’s U.S. business operations but transfer control over user data, content moderation, and algorithms to the new venture. Revenue-generating activities such as advertising and e-commerce are expected to remain under a separate ByteDance-owned unit, while the joint venture will receive a share of revenue for providing technology and data services.
