(The Hill) – TikTok said Thursday that it has established a new U.S. venture as part of an agreement to allow the popular social media platform to continue operating in the U.S.
The deal brings to a close a lengthy saga for the app, which faced a ban if it failed to divest from its Chinese parent company, ByteDance.
The new venture, called TikTok USDS Joint Venture, is majority-owned by U.S. investors. Three American firms — Silver Lake, Oracle and MGX — will serve as managing investors, each holding a 15 percent stake.
ByteDance retains a 19.9 percent stake in the company. The remaining investors include an investment firm tied to Dell CEO and founder Michael Dell and affiliates of Susquehanna International Group and General Atlantic, among others.
“TikTok USDS Joint Venture’s mandate is to secure U.S. user data, apps and the algorithm through comprehensive data privacy and cybersecurity measures,” the company noted in a press release Thursday.
“It will safeguard the U.S. content ecosystem through robust trust and safety policies and content moderation while ensuring continuous accountability through transparency reporting and third-party certifications,” it added.
The spin-off aims to comply with a law passed by Congress in April 2024 requiring ByteDance to divest from TikTok or face a ban on U.S. networks and app stores. The measure received widespread bipartisan support in the face of privacy and national security concerns related to the app’s ties to China.
TikTok challenged the divest-or-ban law, but it was ultimately upheld by the Supreme Court just days before it was set to take effect. The app briefly went dark before receiving assurances from then-President-elect Trump.
Former President Biden declined to enforce the measure, which took effect on his last full day in office. Trump, who vowed to “save” TikTok during his 2024 campaign, quickly signed an executive order after his inauguration delaying enforcement for several months.
Trump repeatedly pushed back the deadline, as he sought to reach a deal with China that would allow the app to continue operating in the U.S. A deal briefly appeared close in April but was scuttled by the president’s announcement of wide-ranging reciprocal tariffs on dozens of countries, including China.
After an agreement was reached in September, Trump signed an executive order approving the deal to spin off TikTok’s U.S. business.
