TikTok Finalizes U.S. Ownership Deal After Years Of Pressure

TikTok Finalizes U.S. Ownership Deal After Years of Pressure
United States The popular social media app TikTok has secured its future in the United States by establishing a majority-American owned entity, satisfying U.S. national security concerns and complying with a U.S. executive order signed by President Donald Trump in September 2025. The deal concludes a long-running battle over TikTok’s ownership and potential U.S. ban, giving millions of American users and businesses certainty that the platform will remain accessible while addressing legislative and executive demands about foreign influence and data security.
Under the new structure known as TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC U.S. entities now hold a majority stake in the company:
The consortium of managing investors Oracle Corporation, Silver Lake Management LLC, and Abu Dhabi-based MGX each hold a 15 percent stake in the venture. Together, these and other American investors control more than 80 percent of the new U.S.-based business, easily surpassing the majority threshold required under U.S. regulatory conditions. TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, retains a 19.9 percent minority interest, in compliance with U.S. law limiting foreign ownership. The joint venture will be governed by a seven-member board of directors, the majority of whom are U.S. citizens, further cementing American control and oversight of the platform’s operations domestically. A cornerstone of the deal is enhanced protection of U.S. user data and algorithm controls long-standing concerns among U.S. lawmakers:
Oracle will host American user data in secure U.S. cloud systems and help oversee strict cybersecurity safeguards.
TikTok’s powerful recommendation algorithm often cited as the “secret sauce” behind its success will be retrained on U.S. user data and monitored to prevent foreign interference.
The new entity will be responsible for content moderation, data privacy, and algorithm integrity, operating independently from ByteDance’s global operations. These measures are intended to reduce national security risks previously cited by U.S. officials who worried that foreign ownership could enable misuse of data or influence. The ownership change comes after years of political and legal pressure on TikTok: In September 2025, President Trump issued an executive order outlining conditions under which TikTok could continue operating in the U.S. by ensuring majority American ownership and tight controls on user data and security.
The executive order effectively delayed enforcement of a bipartisan 2024 law that would have banned TikTok if it did not find acceptable U.S. ownership. The Trump-approved arrangement gave the company time to negotiate a sale to U.S.-approved investors and avoid a shutdown that would have removed the app from U.S. app stores. Trump celebrated the outcome on social media, calling it a victory for American interests and saying the platform will now be “owned by a group of Great American patriots and investors.”
The deal preserves TikTok’s continued presence in the U.S., where it has about 200 million users and is widely used by content creators, small businesses, and advertisers.
Industry observers say the resolution is a significant shift in U.S. tech policy, demonstrating how national security concerns can reshape ownership and operational oversight of foreign-linked platforms.
Creators and businesses that rely on TikTok have broadly welcomed the news, noting that a shutdown would have disrupted livelihoods and marketing strategies across industries.
Majority U.S. ownership now established means TikTok can operate in the U.S. without triggering bans under existing law.
The deal gives U.S. investors like Oracle and Silver Lake significant operational influence, including data protection and algorithm oversight. The agreement fulfills the framework laid out by the Trump administration’s executive order, illustrating how government policy can directly influence ownership of global technology platforms.
It resolves a long-running geopolitical and regulatory saga that drew in Congress, the White House, and Chinese authorities.