TikTok reaches deal with investors to continue operations in US
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TikTok has signed a deal to sell its US business to three US investors – Oracle, Silver Lake and MGX – ensuring that the popular social video platform can continue to operate in the country.
The deal is expected to close on Jan. 22, 2026, according to an internal memo seen by The Associated Press.
CEO Shaw Zi Chew told employees in the memo that ByteDance and TikTok have signed binding agreements with the three investors.
Half of the new TikTok US joint venture will be owned by a consortium of investors – they include Oracle, Silver Lake and MGX, which will each hold a 15 percent stake.
According to the memorandum, the other 30.1 percent stake will be held by affiliates of existing ByteDance investors and 19.9 percent will be held by China-based ByteDance.
Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government has banned TikTok’s commercial operations in Canada over national security concerns, but Canadians can still use the app. Government officials have said the decision was taken on the advice of Canada’s security and intelligence community.
Algorithms to be retrained on US user data
The memorandum states that the American venture will have a seven-member majority American board of directors.
It would also be subject to conditions that “protect Americans’ data and U.S. national security.”
US user data will be stored locally in a system operated by Oracle.
The memo said TikTok’s algorithms — the secret sauce that powers its addictive video feed — would be retrained on US user data “to ensure that the content feed is free from external manipulation.”
The US venture will also oversee content moderation and policies within the country.
The deal marks the end of years of uncertainty about the fate of the popular video-sharing platform in the US
In April 2024, after it was passed by large bipartisan majorities in Congress – and signed by then-President Joe Biden – A law that will ban TikTok In the US, if it does not find a new owner to replace China’s ByteDance, the platform will be blacklisted by the law’s January 2025 deadline.
for one several hoursHad done this. But on his first day in office, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to keep it running while his administration tried to reach a deal for the sale of the company.
US President Donald Trump signed an executive order last week, clearing the way for a group of investors to take control of the app’s US operations. For The National, CBC’s Ashley Fraser breaks down what we know about the deal and what American ownership could mean for your #fyp.
Three more executive orders followed, as Trump continued to extend the deadline for the TikTok deal without any clear legal basis.
was the second in aprilThat’s when White House officials believe they are close to a deal to spin TikTok into a new US-owned company. The deal fell apart when China backed out after Trump’s tariff announcement.
A third came in June and the second on SeptemberWhich Trump said would allow TikTok to continue operating in the US in a manner that meets national security concerns.
