Who Is Buying TikTok’s US Business? Inside the New Ownership Deal

TikTok has finalised a deal to restructure ownership of its US business, ending months of uncertainty over the app’s future in the country.

Instead of a full sale, the agreement creates a new US-based joint venture. The structure allows TikTok to keep operating while meeting US government demands on data security and oversight. ByteDance, TikTok’s Chinese parent, stays involved, but no longer holds control.

How the deal works

Under the new structure, three managing investors each take a 15 percent stake, giving them a combined 45 percent controlling share in TikTok’s US business.

Those investors are Oracle, Silver Lake, and MGX, an Abu Dhabi-based state investment firm focused on artificial intelligence. Oracle already stores TikTok’s US user data and will continue as its primary security partner.

ByteDance will retain a 19.9 percent minority stake, the maximum allowed under US divestment rules. The remaining 35.1 percent will be held by a group of financial investors linked to existing ByteDance backers.

Who else owns a stake

That wider investor group includes several well-known names from global technology and finance. Among them are Michael Dell’s family office, firms connected to Susquehanna International Group and General Atlantic, French billionaire Xavier Niel’s NJJ Capital, Alpha Wave Partners, and investors linked to Yuri Milner.

No single firm in this group controls the business. Together, however, they hold a sizeable minority position.

Who is in charge now?

The new TikTok US entity will operate under a seven-member board of directors. TikTok CEO Shou Chew remains on the board, alongside representatives from Oracle, Silver Lake, and MGX.

Operational leadership shifts to Adam Presser, a senior TikTok executive who previously oversaw trust and safety. He will serve as CEO of the US joint venture.

While ownership changes, ByteDance will still manage key commercial functions such as advertising, marketing, and TikTok Shop. Why the US pushed for this deal

What this means going forward

For users, little changes on the surface. The app functions the same. Creators and advertisers operate as usual.

Behind the scenes, control is now shared between US-aligned technology firms and global investors, with ByteDance limited to a minority role. That balance is what allows TikTok to remain active in the US while complying with regulatory pressure.

In short, TikTok stays, but the power structure behind it has been fundamentally redrawn.

Oracle’s CTO Larry Ellison, TikTok’s CEO Shou Chew, and Michael Dell. Andrew Harnik/Getty Images; Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images; Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images