After years of legal battles and political tension, both the United States and China have officially signed off on a deal to spin off TikTok’s U.S. business to a group of primarily American investors, Semafor is reporting.
The agreement is expected to close this week. This brings an end to a long-running saga that threatened to ban the app for over 170 million American users.
The deal involves a consortium led by tech giant Oracle and the private equity firm Silver Lake. Under the new ownership structure, TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, will retain a minority stake of just under 20% in the new U.S. entity.
Other major investors include:
The new entity, reportedly named “TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC,” will be governed by a seven-member board, the majority of whom will be American citizens.
The main sticking point for years was TikTok’s powerful recommendation algorithm. U.S. lawmakers feared that the Chinese government could use the app for propaganda or to access user data.
To solve this, Oracle will act as the designated security partner. Oracle is expected to handle the “re-training” of the algorithm on American servers, ensuring that the U.S. version of the app operates independently of Chinese influence. The new U.S. company will have full authority over content moderation, data protection, and software updates.
This deal didn’t happen overnight. It follows a 2024 law signed by then-President Joe Biden that required ByteDance to divest the app or face a total ban. While the app briefly went dark in early 2025 after a Supreme Court ruling, President Donald Trump intervened upon taking office, granting several extensions to allow for a sale rather than a shutdown.
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can china make another douyin so we can migrate there, leave tt in the past like fb
TikTok’s algorithm is utter shit.