TikTok Signs Trump-Backed Deal With US Investors to Avoid Ban

(Photo by Costfoto/NurPhoto via AP)

TikTok has agreed to sell its U.S. operations to a group of American investors including Oracle, Silver Lake, and Abu Dhabi-based MGX in a deal backed by President Donald Trump that will allow the wildly popular video app to continue operating in the United States.

The agreement, according to Axios, is set to close on January 22 and creates a new TikTok US joint venture in which a consortium of new investors will hold 50% of the company. ByteDance affiliates will retain 30.1%, while the Chinese parent company itself will keep a 19.9% stake, according to an internal memo reviewed by US media.

TikTok’s chief executive, Shou Zi Chew, told staff that binding agreements had been signed.

The White House has confirmed that Oracle, co-founded by Trump ally Larry Ellison, will license a copy of TikTok’s powerful recommendation algorithm and expand its existing role managing the data of the app’s 170 million U.S. users. A potential ban was hinged on national security concerns.

In September, Trump said he had spoken directly with China’s leader, adding: “I had a very good talk with President Xi [Jinping]” and “he gave us the go ahead.” A month later, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent declared that Washington and Beijing had “reached a final deal on TikTok.”

During his first term, Trump threatened to ban TikTok outright in 2020. Congress later passed legislation forcing a sale or shutdown over security fears, which former President Joe Biden signed into law in April 2024. The ban was due to take effect in January 2025, but was repeatedly delayed by Trump as negotiations continued.

Not everyone is on board, however. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) panned the deal in a post on BlueSky late Thursday: “First Paramount/CBS and now TikTok. Trump wants to hand over even more control of what you watch to his billionaire buddies. Americans deserve to know if the president struck another backdoor deal for this billionaire takeover of TikTok.”