TikTok has closed a deal allowing the platform to continue operating in the United States by splitting its American business from Chinese parent company ByteDance, ending a years-long standoff over national security concerns.
The agreement creates a new entity called TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC that will control US user data, apps and the platform’s powerful recommendation algorithm. The deal resolves a dispute that began during President Donald Trump’s first term and nearly resulted in the app going dark for 200 million American users.
The core issue was always the algorithm. TikTok’s content recommendation system drives the app’s popularity, and Washington feared Beijing could manipulate what Americans see or access their data through ByteDance’s control. President Biden signed legislation in 2024 demanding ByteDance sell TikTok or face a ban. The app briefly went offline for 12 to 14 hours in January 2025 before Trump pledged to reverse the ban.
Under the new structure, a seven-member, majority-American board will govern the joint venture. Adam Presser, formerly of WarnerMedia, was appointed CEO. Three managing investors each hold 15% stakes: Oracle, the cloud computing giant chaired by Republican megadonor Larry Ellison; Silver Lake, a tech investment firm managing approximately $116 billion in assets; and MGX, an Emirati investor in AI and technology.
ByteDance retains a 19.9% stake. The remaining 35.1% is owned by a group including the family office of tech executive Michael Dell and Vastmere Strategic Investments, an affiliate of Susquehanna International Group. Susquehanna was co-founded by Trump ally Jeff Yass, whose personal stake in ByteDance was roughly 7% as of last year.
The algorithm will now be retrained using only US user data and secured in Oracle’s US cloud environment. Beijing’s cybersecurity regulator initially blocked ByteDance from selling the recommendation system but signaled in September that licensing could be permitted.
What this means for users remains unclear. Experts say the retrained algorithm might operate differently than the global version, potentially recommending content less successfully. The app could become slower or lighter as it adapts to operating separately from ByteDance’s infrastructure. Other platforms have tried replicating TikTok’s recommendation system through Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts, but none have matched its effectiveness.
The financial arrangements reveal how political connections shaped the deal’s structure. Oracle’s Larry Ellison, Silver Lake, Michael Dell’s family office, and Jeff Yass’s Susquehanna all represent investors with ties to Trump. For American TikTok users, the immediate impact is continuity. The longer-term impact depends on whether the split operations can maintain the experience that made TikTok dominant.
