US and China reach deal to create US TikTok backed by non-Chinese investors

TikTok announced Thursday that its parent company ByteDance has finalized an agreement with a group of non-Chinese investors to create a new U.S. TikTok.

The investors include the software giant Oracle, the Emirati investment firm MGX, and the California-based private equity fund Silver Lake, according to the New York Times. TikTok’s former operations head, Adam Presser, will be the CEO for U.S. TikTok.

The deal was initially teased last month but was finalized Thursday, just ahead of the deadline, and it ends a years-long battle over the future of the app in the United States. 

Last year, Congress passed a bill requiring TikTok to divest or sell its operations over the potential threat of Chinese manipulation to the social media app’s algorithm.

In September, President Trump signed an executive order to approve a deal to keep the TikTok app available in the U.S. after it briefly went dark.

ByteDance will keep a 19.9% stake in the U.S. operation, the company said in a memo last month.

Misty Severi is a reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.