ByteDance, the Chinese owner of TikTok, has agreed binding contracts with U.S. and Gulf investors to restructure its American operations, chief executive Shou Zi Chew told staff on Thursday.
Oracle, Silver Lake, and Abu Dhabi-based MGX will hold 50% of the new U.S. joint venture, closing on January 22. ByteDance keeps 19.9%, with the trio taking 15% each and affiliates claiming 30.1%.
The pact ends years of U.S. pressure to divest over security fears, building on President Donald Trump’s September delay of a ban law. Oracle will license TikTok’s algorithm, retrained on U.S. data only.
Congress passed the ban bill in April 2024 under Joe Biden, due for January 20, 2025 enforcement. Trump extended deadlines after a call with China’s President Xi Jinping.
“TikTok has become a bargaining chip in the wider US-China relationship,” said Alvin Graylin of MIT. “With recent softening tensions, Beijing’s sign-off… looks less like capitulation and more like calibrated de-escalation.”
Oregon Senator Ron Wyden criticised the deal, saying it would not do “a thing to protect the privacy of American users.”
“It’s unclear that it will even put TikTok’s algorithm in safer hands,” he added.
TikTok said the agreement lets “over 170 million Americans to continue discovering a world of endless possibilities”. It supports over seven million U.S. small businesses worth £20 billion yearly.