Overview
- Oracle, Silver Lake and MGX will together hold about 45% of the new U.S. entity, ByteDance will retain roughly 20%, and existing international investors are slated for about 30–35%.
- The venture, reported as TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC, will oversee U.S. data protection, algorithm security, content moderation and software security, with the recommendation engine retrained on U.S. user data.
- The transaction, communicated to staff by CEO Shou Zi Chew, is intended to avert removal from U.S. app stores under a 2024 law and is expected to close on January 22, 2026.
- Business Insider reports that core commercial functions such as advertising, e‑commerce and marketing will remain under TikTok Global controlled by ByteDance, narrowing the JV’s scope to security-focused operations.
- Questions persist about whether the algorithm will be transferred or licensed and whether the structure fully addresses national‑security and political‑influence concerns, as critics also note a reported ~$14 billion valuation that appears low for the U.S. unit.