TikTok’s Chinese owner, ByteDance, said on Thursday it has finalised a deal to create a new American version of the app that establishes a majority American-owned joint venture that will secure US data, in order to avoid a US ban.
The short video app company signed agreements with major investors including cloud computing giant Oracle, private equity group Silver Lake and Abu Dhabi-based investment firm MGX – which will each hold 15 per cent – to form the new TikTok US joint venture. American and global investors will hold 801 per cent of the venture while ByteDance will own 19.9 per cent.
The new app will operate under “defined safeguards that protect national security through comprehensive data protections, algorithm security, content moderation and software assurances for US users,” the company said in a statement Thursday.
Adam Presser, who previously worked as TikTok’s head of operations and trust and safety, will lead the new venture as its CEO and work alongside a seven-member, majority-American board of directors that includes TikTok’s CEO Shou Chew.
TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC will secure US user data, apps, and algorithms through data privacy and cybersecurity measures, ByteDance said.
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The deal marks the end of years of uncertainty about the fate of the popular video-sharing platform in the United States. Trouble first began brewing in 2020, when US President Donald Trump tried to ban the app over security concerns, but was unsuccessful.
Wide bipartisan majorities in Congress passed a law which was later signed by former President Joe Biden that would ban TikTok in the US if it did not find a new owner in the place of China’s ByteDance. In January 2025, the app went dark for its users, which include more than 200 million Americans.
But, on his first day in office, Trump signed an executive order to keep it running while his administration sought an agreement for the sale of the company. He has more than 16 million followers on his personal TikTok account and credited the app with helping him win reelection. The White House also launched an official account in August.
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