Frank Rondel
TikTok has officially finalized its deal to spin off its United States operations, ending a multi-year struggle over the app’s accessibility for millions of U.S. users, reports customreceipt.com. The newly established U.S. joint venture is designed to operate under strict safeguards that ensure national security, including comprehensive data protection measures, algorithm oversight, content moderation, and software assurances for American users.
The joint venture will include stakes held by Oracle, UAE-based MGX, and the technology investment firm Silver Lake, each owning 15% of the new U.S. entity, while TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, will retain a 19.9% ownership share. According to TikTok’s official statement, the U.S. operations will undergo structural changes to prioritize American data privacy while continuing to manage advertising, e-commerce, and marketing through the global ByteDance platform.
Former President Donald Trump publicly praised the finalization of the agreement, describing it as a victory for American investors and TikTok users. In a social media post on Thursday, he stated that the deal “will now be owned by a group of Great American Patriots and Investors” and expressed hope that his role in the process would be remembered by the platform’s community.
For the more than 200 million U.S. users of TikTok, the most immediate implication is that the platform will continue to operate in the country. The deal is not expected to result in immediate, major changes to the user experience, although gradual adjustments may occur. One key area of focus throughout negotiations was the algorithm, the core system that determines content recommendations. Under the new U.S. entity, TikTok’s algorithm will be retrained using American user data, while Oracle will oversee the storage and security of this information. This recalibration may alter the way content is personalized and presented on the platform over time.
The governance of the new U.S. joint venture will be managed by a seven-member board, primarily composed of American executives. Board members include TikTok U.S. CEO Shou Chew, Oracle executive Kenneth Glueck, representatives from investment firms Silver Lake and Susquehanna International Group, as well as executives from Abu Dhabi-based MGX. Oracle, led by Larry Ellison, a known ally of Trump, will serve as both a major investor and the entity’s security partner.
Despite the deal’s completion, several questions remain unresolved. The total valuation of TikTok’s U.S. operations has not been publicly disclosed, and the Chinese government has yet to comment on the final agreement. Experts note that while the deal satisfies many regulatory requirements, it may not fully address the national security concerns originally outlined in U.S. legislation. The 2024 law mandates that ByteDance have no operational control over TikTok’s U.S. entity, a provision that was upheld by the Supreme Court.
In addition to TikTok, the U.S. joint venture will oversee other apps within the ByteDance portfolio, including CapCut and Lemon8, expanding the scope of American operations under the new framework. TikTok briefly went offline for U.S. users in January 2025 for 14 hours amid legal uncertainty before federal intervention delayed enforcement of the 2024 law.
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