According to the company, a day before the deadline set by Trump for the transfer of assets, a joint venture was established to acquire TikTok's American operations, and its management team was announced.
The completion of this deal is the result of years of efforts to ensure a stable future for TikTok in the U.S. and to address concerns regarding national security threats.
“The joint venture, in which the controlling stake belongs to the American side, will operate under strict guarantees ensuring national security, including data protection, algorithm security, content moderation, and software for U.S. users,” the group's press release published on Thursday stated.
The joint venture will be led by CEO Adam Presser, who previously oversaw data security for American users, and Security Director Will Farrell, who dealt with privacy and security issues within the project.
The board of directors will oversee the process, which will include TikTok's U.S. CEO Shou Chew, Kenneth Gluck, Executive Vice President of Oracle, as well as representatives from investment firms Susquehanna International Group and Silver Lake, the Emirati MGX, and others.
U.S. President Donald Trump expressed gratitude to Chinese President Xi Jinping for “cooperation and approval of the deal.”
“He could have acted differently, but chose this path, which is commendable,” Trump wrote in his post on Truth Social.
As of now, the Chinese government has not commented on the agreement, and CNN has reached out to the Chinese Ministry of Commerce for comments.
Trump emphasized that he is “glad he could help save TikTok” and thanked members of his administration for successfully completing the deal.
The story of TikTok in the U.S. began with Trump's promise to ban the app. The situation escalated in 2024 when President Joe Biden signed a law requiring the separation of the American version of the app from ByteDance or banning its use in the country. While in office, Trump repeatedly postponed the implementation of this law, aiming to finalize the deal to transfer control of the app's American operations to American owners.
When Trump approved the deal last fall, the deadline for its completion was set for January 23. TikTok signed the deal last month.
This deal is likely to be a positive development for more than 200 million TikTok users in the U.S., many of whom use the app for entertainment, news, and even to make a living.
According to the agreement, control over TikTok user data in the U.S. and most of its operations was transferred to the new joint venture. 50% of the shares will belong to a consortium of investors, including Oracle, Silver Lake, and MGX from the UAE. According to information sent to Chew's staff last month, just over 30% of the joint venture will be owned by “affiliates of existing ByteDance investors,” while 19.9% will remain with ByteDance.
The new structure plans to retrain TikTok's algorithm on data from U.S. users, while Oracle will be responsible for data storage. The joint venture will also handle content moderation for American users. However, according to Chew's memo, the global structure of TikTok, controlled by ByteDance, will continue to manage e-commerce, advertising, and marketing on the new platform.
This may mean that the user experience for American users in the app is unlikely to change, although the algorithm that determines which videos are shown may be reworked by the new owners.
Last year, Trump characterized the deal to separate the subsidiary as a “qualified asset sale” under the law. However, questions remain about whether this agreement fully addresses the core national security concerns that initially prompted lawmakers to enact the law.
U.S. officials expressed concerns that ByteDance could be forced to manipulate the algorithm in the interests of the Chinese government to influence American users. The law prohibiting or selling TikTok banned “collaboration on the content recommendation algorithm” between ByteDance and the new American owners.
“Interaction between the companies will help the joint venture provide American users with a complete TikTok experience, allowing them to find American content creators and conduct business on a global scale,” representatives of the joint venture noted.
According to the agreement finalized on Thursday, the new joint venture will continue to license the TikTok algorithm from ByteDance and then retrain and verify it.
Before the completion of the deal, it remained unclear whether it would be approved by Beijing. TikTok has become an important element in U.S.-China trade negotiations; a previous version of the agreement was canceled last year after Trump announced a new round of tariffs.
Last month, He Yunchang, a spokesperson for the ministry, confirmed that a basic framework consensus had been reached between Beijing and Washington regarding TikTok and trade.
“The Chinese government hopes that enterprises will find solutions that comply with Chinese laws and reflect a balance of interests,” he stated at a press conference. “China expects good faith fulfillment of obligations from the U.S. to create fairness and openness in business for the stable operation of Chinese companies in the U.S.”
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The American cloud company Oracle, private investment firm Silver Lake, and investment firm MGX from Abu Dhabi will each own 15% of the shares in the new joint venture.
The chairman of Oracle's board is Larry Ellison—a major sponsor of the Republican Party and an ally of Donald Trump. In September, Trump singled out Ellison among investors raising funds for this deal.
The company will oversee the retraining of TikTok's recommendation algorithm, which determines what users see and interact with in the app.
TikTok's Chinese parent company, ByteDance, will retain 19.9% of the shares and will remain below the legally established 20% threshold.
The remaining 35.1% of the company will be owned by: the family office of technology company leader Michael Dell, another Trump supporter; Vastmere Strategic Investments—a subsidiary of quantitative trading firm Susquehanna; Alpha Wave Partners; Revolution; Meritt Way; Via Nova; Virgo LI; and NJJ Capital.
What is Oracle's role in TikTok's operations in the U.S.?
BBC Technology Correspondent in North America.
As previously mentioned, Oracle will take a key position in the new joint venture, the agreement for which was finalized on Thursday.
According to the joint venture's statements, it will be responsible for protecting the data of 200 million TikTok users in the U.S.
The company will also oversee the retraining of TikTok's content recommendation algorithm, which determines what users see and interact with in the app. Oracle was founded by Larry Ellison, who is a political ally and friend of U.S. President Donald Trump.
Last year, he briefly became the richest person in the world, surpassing Elon Musk.
Recently, Ellison has been in the news not only in connection with TikTok. He initiated a hostile bid for media giant Warner Brothers Discovery and also struck a deal that led his family office to head another major media company—Paramount. (BBC is a partner of CBS News, which is owned by Paramount.)
