TikTok to Keep Core US Business Under New Deal

TikTok’s future in the U.S. has taken a dramatic turn after its Chinese owner ByteDance agreed to a complex new deal that lets the company hold onto major parts of its American business, Financial Times is reporting.

The breakthrough follows years of escalating national security concerns raised by government officials who feared that Chinese control could pose risks related to data privacy and influence millions of US users.

Under the newly signed agreements, ByteDance will partner with a consortium of mainly American and global investors to form a new entity that will manage TikTok’s US operations. This arrangement avoids a full forced sale or shutdown that had loomed after legislation passed last year requiring Chinese-owned apps to divest in order to continue operating in the U.S.

The investor group includes technology giant Oracle, private equity firm Silver Lake and Abu Dhabi’s MGX. Oracle will play a key role in safeguarding user data and overseeing the recommendation algorithm used by the app for American users. That algorithm has been at the heart of the debate, with critics saying it could potentially be manipulated by outside actors if under foreign control.

In response, Oracle will be responsible for retraining the system using US user data in a secure environment to ensure it meets national security expectations.

While the new joint venture will be majority controlled by US and global investors and governed by a board dominated by American directors, ByteDance will still retain a significant commercial interest. Under the deal, the Chinese company’s stake is capped at 19.9%, the maximum permitted under current regulatory frameworks.

The agreements are expected to conclude formally on January 22, 2026, which falls just ahead of the deadline set to enforce the divestiture law that threatened to ban TikTok entirely from US app stores.