The TikTok US sale is finally happening
ByteDance and TikTok have signed binding agreements with three lead investors, Oracle Corporation, Silver Lake and MGX, to form a new US TikTok joint venture named TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC. Pursuant to the executive order signed by U.S. President Donald J. Trump on September 25, 2025, the agreements specify that the U.S. joint venture will be majority owned by U.S. investors, governed by a new board of directors comprised of seven majority U.S. members, and subject to terms that protect Americans’ data and U.S. national security.
Concretely, the American joint venture will be 50% owned by a consortium of new investors, including Oracle, Silver Lake and MGX with 15% each; 30.1% held by affiliates of certain existing ByteDance investors; and 19.9% will be retained by ByteDance.
With comprehensive security measures, more than 170 million Americans will continue to discover, create and connect on the platform, enjoying the same experience as today. Advertisers will continue to connect with global audiences without impact.
The US joint venture will be responsible for US data protection, algorithm security, content moderation and software assurance. It will also have the exclusive right and authority to provide guarantees that U.S. user content, software and data are secure. A trusted security partner will be responsible for auditing and validating compliance with agreed-upon national security terms, and Oracle will be the trusted security partner upon completion of the transaction.
The American joint venture will oversee:
Data Protection: Backs up sensitive data of US users, which will be stored in a reliable and secure cloud environment in the US, managed by Oracle.
Algorithm Security: Retraining the content recommendation algorithm on US user data to ensure the content feed is free from outside manipulation.
Content Moderation: Final decision-making authority to review and approve all content moderation and related policies in the United States.
Software Assurance: deployment and integrity of application software and the American platform.
