After a year of stalled negotiations, TikTok owner ByteDance has reportedly agreed to Donald Trump’s deal giving US owners majority ownership of the app.
By signing the agreements, ByteDance has ended a prolonged period of uncertainty for millions of Americans who rely on TikTok for news, entertainment, social connection, and income. Under a law that Trump declined to enforce—which lawmakers convinced the Supreme Court was critical for national security—TikTok risked a US ban next year if the sale did not go through.
According to Reuters, terms of the deal match what was reported in September when Trump controversially confirmed that ByteDance would keep the algorithm. Under the deal, US investors and allies—including cloud computing firm Oracle, private equity group Silver Lake, and Abu Dhabi-based MGX—will likely license the algorithm.
Together, those owners will control 80.1 percent of TikTok while China-based ByteDance retains a 19.9 percent stake, as well as one of seven board seats. To ensure that China has no access to US data to spy on Americans or tweak the algorithm to indoctrinate users with political propaganda, Oracle will serve as a “trusted security partner,” Reuters reported.
In a memo to staff reviewed by Reuters, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew confirmed that all US data “will be stored in a trusted and secure cloud environment in the United States run by Oracle,” with Oracle ultimately responsible for safeguarding US data.
Describing the deal as a “joint venture,” he confirmed that the US company would “operate as an independent entity with authority over US data protection, algorithm security, content moderation, and software assurance.” But ByteDance would separately “manage global product interoperability and certain commercial activities, including e-commerce, advertising, and marketing.”
According to Trump, the deal ensures that TikTok complies with the divest-or-ban law, but the White House is still not providing more details. Instead, the Trump administration “referred questions about the deal to TikTok,” Reuters reported.
If the deal closes as expected on January 22, the new US company will have an estimated value of $14 billion, Vice President JD Vance noted in September.
At that point, the deal will likely face mounting scrutiny from lawmakers, including Republicans, who aren’t yet sure if the US operation resolves all national security concerns. Chinese control of the algorithm was a particular sticking point for critics, who claimed that Trump was giving China exactly what it wanted: international recognition for exporting leading technology to the US.
In September, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R.-Iowa) vowed to take a “hard line” and oppose the deal’s framework if it violates the divest-or-ban law. Already, Representative John Moolenaar (R-Mich.), chair of the House Select Committee on China, is planning to hold a hearing next year with US TikTok leadership.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) has accused Trump of handing over “even more control of what you watch to his billionaire buddies,” through the TikTok deal, which she likened to enabling a “billionaire takeover of TikTok.” Many TikTokers likely share her concerns, after Trump suggested he’d like to see his hand-picked investors tweak the algorithm to be “100 percent MAGA.”
Questions remain until the exact terms of the deal become public, Warren said.
ByteDance did not respond to Ars’ request to comment.
With the terms obscured, it’s unclear how quickly TikTok may change in 2026 under US ownership. Back in July, the Information reported that when approximately 170 million US users get ported over to the new US-owned app, it could be buggy.
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