TikTok could be ready to sell its U.S. business to a group of tech companies after a protracted back and forth on a deal to continue to run its operations in the country given the links of its parent organization, ByteDance, with China.
U.S.-based investors – Oracle, Silver Lake, and MGX have been finalized to acquire the TikTok U.S. business. For now it has not been disclosed if other investors will also be part of this group.
Under the terms of the new deal, U.S. tech firm Oracle, private-equity firm Silver Lake, and Abu Dhabi’s MGX investment firm will each control a 15 percent stake of TikTok’s U.S. business becoming equal partners. The development was reported by The Associated Press on Friday, citing an internal memo confirming the decision. The memo has already been signed by TikTok as well as its Chinese parent, ByteDance.
The report further claimed that the remaining 30.1 percent and 19.9 percent of TikTok U.S. will be retained by ByteDance and its present investors respectively.
Owing to TikTok’s China links, former U.S. President Joe Biden had ordered a ban on TikTok last year.
Under Biden’s directive, TikTok was directed to sell its U.S. business to an American entity — fearing that its Chinese roots could be exploited by China to extract and exploit the personal data of American nationals. Multiple research reports claim that over 137 million American nationals are active TikTok users.
The implementation of this decision, however, was put on hold by Donald Trump and repeatedly delayed after he was elected as the 47th President of the U.S. last year.
The deal is likely to close by January 22, 2026. Its completion will solidify TikTok’s operational footprint in the country.