TikTok has reached an agreement to be acquired by a group of U.S. investors, according to an internal memo from CEO Shou Zi Chew that was obtained by the media. The deal, expected to close on January 22, would resolve the long-running dispute and avoid a potential U.S. ban.
The agreement ends a drawn-out standoff that placed the app squarely between Washington and Beijing. Politicians on both sides of the aisle have long warned that TikTok’s Chinese owner, ByteDance, might be pressured to share U.S. user data with the Chinese government, a charge the company has repeatedly denied.
The road to the sale was fraught with political tension. It began in 2020, when then-President Donald Trump issued an executive order requiring ByteDance to divest TikTok. Last year, President Joe Biden signed legislation setting a January 20 deadline for the company to secure a U.S. buyer. In a notable reversal, Trump, after returning to office, extended that deadline three times, granting a final 120-day reprieve in September through an executive order that also cleared the current acquisition structure.
The agreement also puts in place a complicated ownership structure, cleared by regulators in both the U.S. and China this fall, that will greatly shrink ByteDance’s stake. Under the terms:
- ByteDance will retain a 20% share.
- A coalition led by Oracle, private equity firm Silver Lake, and Emirati investment company MGX will acquire between 40 and 50%.
- Existing ByteDance investors, including Susquehanna International Group, General Atlantic, and KKR, will hold approximately 30%.
- Other notable investors include Dell founder Michael Dell and media mogul Rupert Murdoch.
In his memo, CEO Shou Zi Chew detailed new operational limits for the company. The lead investor coalition is set to take over TikTok’s U.S. operations, including responsibility for data security and the recommendation algorithm that powers the platform. It is still uncertain how the new owners would manage the software compared with ByteDance.
Oracle will be responsible for auditing and validating TikTok’s compliance with the agreement, with all U.S. user data stored on Oracle servers. U.S. investors will also oversee a range of global platform functions, including interoperability, e-commerce, and advertising.
The sale allows a platform that is deeply embedded in American media culture to continue operating, especially among younger audiences. A Pew Research Center study shows that 43% of U.S. adults under 30 regularly get news from TikTok, more than from any other social media site.
Now that a January 22 closing date is on the calendar, the deal looks set to wrap up a saga that turned a viral video app into the focus of a broader battle over data, sovereignty, and tech power.
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