End of Ban? TikTok Forms New U.S. Joint Venture

In a major turning point for the social media giant, TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, has signed binding agreements with a group of U.S. and global investors to operate its business in America. Under the leadership of CEO Shou Zi Chew, the deal creates a new joint venture set to close on January 22, 2026. This agreement effectively ends years of legal and political pressure from Washington aimed at forcing a total sale of the app due to national security concerns. The deal gained momentum after President Trump delayed enforcement of a potential ban, reportedly following a "green light" from Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The ownership structure of the new entity significantly dilutes Chinese control, with ByteDance retaining only a 19.9% minority stake. A consortium of major investors, including Oracle, Silver Lake, and the Emirati firm MGX, will each hold 15% of the company, while the remaining 30.1% will be held by existing ByteDance affiliates. As part of the security arrangement, Oracle will license TikTok’s famous recommendation algorithm, which will be retrained specifically on American user data to ensure the feed is free from foreign manipulation.

While the deal secures the platform for over 170 million U.S. users and 7 million small businesses, it has met with mixed reactions. Senator Ron Wyden criticized the move, arguing it fails to adequately protect American privacy or move the algorithm into truly "safer hands." Conversely, some experts view the deal as a calibrated de-escalation between the U.S. and China. For the millions of creators and entrepreneurs who rely on the app, the news brings a sense of cautious relief after a year of intense uncertainty regarding their digital livelihoods.