TikTok's US joint venture closed on 22 January 2026 with ByteDance at 19.9%

Who owns and runs the venture

TikTok's statement at close put the three managing investors, Oracle, Silver Lake and Abu Dhabi's MGX, at a combined 45%, with 15% each. Eight other investors hold 35%, including Michael Dell's personal investment office and Susquehanna International Group, CBS News reported. ByteDance retains 19.9%, just below the 20% cap in the 2024 divest-or-ban law.

Chew's memo described a 50% consortium of new investors, including Oracle, Silver Lake and MGX at 15% each, 30.1% held by affiliates of existing ByteDance investors, and 19.9% by ByteDance. Both breakdowns leave roughly 80% outside ByteDance and 19.9% with ByteDance; the difference is how the investors are grouped.

Adam Presser, previously TikTok's head of operations and trust and safety, leads the venture as CEO. He works with a seven-member, majority-American board that includes TikTok CEO Shou Chew, according to NPR.

The algorithm is licensed, not sold

Oracle already provides data and computing services for TikTok's US operations, and American user data is stored locally in a system it runs. The joint venture will retrain, test and update the content recommendation algorithm on US user data, TikTok said, and Oracle will review and validate source code on an ongoing basis. ByteDance licenses the algorithm to the US entity rather than transferring it.

The 2024 statute bars "any cooperation with respect to the operation of a content recommendation algorithm" between ByteDance and a new potential American ownership group. NPR reported that it is unclear how ByteDance's continued involvement in the algorithm arrangement will play out. China previously maintained the algorithm must remain under Chinese control by law. Congress left it to the president to decide what counts as a qualified divestiture.

How the deal got here

Congress passed the divest-or-ban law in 2024 with large bipartisan majorities. It took effect on 19 January 2025, making it unlawful for app stores to offer updates or new downloads. The app went dark in the US for several hours. Trump signed an executive order on his first day back in office to keep it running. He issued five such orders in total and extended non-enforcement to 23 January 2026. On 25 September Trump signed an order approving the formation of the joint venture and the sale of stakes to non-Chinese investors. That order covers TikTok, ByteDance's Lemon8 and CapCut, plus "any other application or website duly operated by the new joint venture." ByteDance and TikTok signed binding agreements with the three managing investors, with a close date of 22 January 2026.

Vice President JD Vance said the agreement valued TikTok's US business at $14 billion.

What happens next

John Moolenaar chairs the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party. He told CBS News the panel will hold a public hearing "in the coming months" on whether the deal keeps the CCP out of the algorithm and protects Americans' data.

A White House official said China and the US both signed off on the deal. Beijing has not publicly commented on the announcement itself. China's statements on a forced sale have been vague, saying only that any agreement must comply with Chinese laws and regulations.