TikTok’s future in the United States has been secured following an agreement between the US and China that will see a consortium of American investors, led by Oracle, Silver Lake, and Andreessen Horowitz, take control of the app’s US operations.
The deal, announced by President Donald Trump, is expected to close within 30 to 45 days and will transfer TikTok’s American assets from Chinese parent company ByteDance to a new US-based entity.
Under the terms of the agreement, US investors will hold an 80 per cent stake in the new company, while ByteDance will retain a 19.9 per cent share, just below the 20 per cent threshold set by US law. The new entity will be governed by an American-dominated board, with one member designated by the US government. Existing US users will be asked to migrate to a new app, which TikTok has already developed and is currently testing. The app will use recommendation algorithms licensed from ByteDance, but will operate on a separate data system from the global version.
Trump confirmed the deal at a White House briefing, stating, “We have a deal on TikTok … We have a group of very big companies that want to buy it”. The White House has extended the deadline for ByteDance to divest its US assets until 16 December, allowing more time to finalise the complex transaction.
Oracle will continue to provide cloud services for TikTok, maintaining its role in hosting user data in the US. The Wall Street Journal reported that the new company’s board will be predominantly American, with oversight from the US government. The deal is seen as a compromise that addresses national security concerns while allowing TikTok to continue operating for its 170 million US users.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent commented, “This deal wouldn’t be done without proper safeguards for US national security. It seems as though we were a lso able to meet the Chinese interest”.
The agreement follows months of negotiations and several deadline extensions, as both Washington and Beijing sought to resolve the fate of the popular social media platform. The final terms may still be subject to change, but the framework is expected to satisfy the requirements of US law and ensure TikTok’s continued presence in the American market.
