TikTok may finally sell its US operations to Oracle

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TikTok may finally be close to finding a solution to its long-running problems in the United States. According to a report by Axios, the company has agreed to sell its US business to a new group of investors that includes Oracle, Silver Lake and UAE-based firm MGX. If the deal is completed, it would allow TikTok to continue operating in the US after facing repeated threats of a ban.

As part of the deal, a new company called TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC will be set up. This US-based group will own 45 percent of TikTok’s American operations. TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, will keep a stake of just under 20 percent, while existing investors will hold the rest. The idea is to reduce ByteDance’s control and address US government concerns about foreign influence.

The new US group will take charge of sensitive parts of the app in the country. This includes how user data is stored and protected, as well as how content is reviewed and managed. The group will also be responsible for how TikTok decides which videos appear on users’ feeds. According to the report, the system that recommends videos will be rebuilt using only data from US users, to make sure it cannot be influenced from outside the country.

Oracle is expected to play a central role in making sure the rules are followed. The company will check that TikTok meets the security conditions set by the US government and that user data is handled properly.

While the US joint venture will control data and safety-related matters, TikTok’s global teams will continue to look after things like the app’s features, advertising, marketing and shopping-related services. This means the app should still feel familiar to users, even as its US operations are run separately.

This sale is key to TikTok’s future in the US. In 2024, the government passed a law that required ByteDance to sell TikTok’s US business to a non-Chinese company or shut down the app in the country. TikTok was briefly taken offline in January, before former President Donald Trump signed an order that allowed it to return while talks continued. The deadline for a deal has been extended several times since then.

If everything goes as planned, the new arrangement will take effect on January 22. For TikTok’s millions of users and creators in the US, the deal could finally put an end to years of uncertainty about the app’s future.