TikTok has officially finalized a major deal to keep the app running in the United States. The company has today announced the creation of TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC, a new entity that is majority-owned by American and global investors.
Under the new agreement, ByteDance, the Chinese parent company of TikTok, has reduced its stake to just 19.9%. The remaining 80.1% is now controlled by a group of high-profile investors. Key players include the tech giant Oracle, the private equity firm Silver Lake, and the Abu Dhabi-based investment group MGX, each holding a 15% share.
The joint venture will be led by Adam Presser as CEO. Presser, a former executive at WarnerMedia and TikTok’s previous head of operations, will oversee the security of U.S. user data and the growth of the platform. He is joined by Will Farrell, who takes the role of Chief Security Officer.
A seven-member board of directors, which includes TikTok Global CEO Shou Zi Chew, will govern the new company. The board is structured to have a majority of American directors to satisfy national security requirements.
A major part of this deal involves how the app actually works. TikTok’s famous recommendation algorithm, the engine that chooses which videos you see, is being “retrained” and tested using only U.S. user data. This ensures that the system used to predict American preferences stays within U.S. borders. All of this data and the algorithm itself will be housed in Oracle’s secure U.S. cloud environment.
For the 200 million TikTok users in the U.S., the experience should remain mostly the same. You won’t need to download a new app, and you can still interact with creators from around the world. However, because the algorithm is being localized for American users, some experts suggest that the “For You” feed might eventually feel slightly different than the version used in other countries.
The deal also covers other apps owned by the same parent company, such as the video editor CapCut and the social app Lemon8. These will now fall under the same security and ownership protections as TikTok.
U.S. President Donald Trump, who has been a vocal supporter of the deal recently, praised the finalization on social media. He stated that the app would now be owned by “Great American Patriots” and thanked Chinese President Xi Jinping for approving the arrangement.
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