Bangla Press Desk: TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, said on Thursday it has finalized a deal to create a majority American-owned joint venture aimed at securing U.S. user data, a move designed to avert a potential nationwide ban of the popular short-video app used by more than 200 million Americans.
The agreement marks a major milestone for TikTok after years of political and legal battles that began in August 2020, when then-President Donald Trump first attempted to ban the app over national security concerns.
Under the deal, the new entity — TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC — will be responsible for protecting U.S. user data, applications, and algorithms through enhanced data privacy and cybersecurity measures, ByteDance said.
American and global investors will collectively own 80.1% of the venture, while ByteDance will retain a 19.9% stake.
The venture’s three managing investors — Oracle, private equity firm Silver Lake, and Abu Dhabi-based investment company MGX — will each hold 15% ownership stakes.
A White House official said both the U.S. and Chinese governments have approved the agreement. The Chinese Embassy in Washington did not immediately comment.
The structure of the deal aligns with plans outlined in September, when Trump delayed enforcement of a 2024 law that would have banned TikTok unless ByteDance divested its U.S. operations. Trump later said the agreement satisfied the law’s divestiture requirements.
Under the arrangement, the joint venture will operate TikTok’s U.S. app. However, some elements of the business relationship between ByteDance and the new entity — including revenue-sharing arrangements — have not been publicly disclosed.
Trump, who has more than 16 million followers on TikTok, has credited the platform with helping him win re-election. The White House launched an official TikTok account in August.
TikTok said additional investors in the venture include Dell Family Office, Vastmere Strategic Investments, Alpha Wave Partners, Revolution, Merritt Way, Via Nova, Virgo LI, and NJJ Capital.
Former TikTok USDS executives Adam Presser and Will Farrell have been appointed chief executive officer and chief security officer, respectively. TikTok CEO Shou Chew will also serve on the venture’s board while continuing to lead TikTok’s global strategy and operations.
The joint venture will retrain, test, and update TikTok’s content recommendation algorithm using U.S. user data. The algorithm and data will be hosted and secured on Oracle’s U.S.-based cloud infrastructure.
Previously, Reuters reported that ByteDance would retain ownership of TikTok’s U.S. business operations but relinquish control over user data, content moderation, and the recommendation algorithm to the joint venture. Revenue-generating activities such as advertising and e-commerce are expected to remain under a separate ByteDance-owned division.
BP/TI
