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<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nTikTok has signed agreements with three major investors \u2014 Oracle, Silver Lake and MGX \u2014 to form a new TikTok U.S. joint venture, ensuring the popular social video platform can continue operating in the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The deal is expected to close on Jan. 22, according to an internal memo seen by The Associated Press. In the communication, CEO Shou Zi Chew confirmed to employees that ByteDance and TikTok<\/a> signed the binding agreements with the consortium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI want to take this opportunity to thank you for your continued dedication and tireless work. Your efforts keep us operating at the highest level and will ensure that TikTok continues to grow and thrive in the U.S. and around the world,\u201d Chew wrote in the memo to employees. \u201cWith these agreements in place, our focus must stay where it\u2019s always been\u2014firmly on delivering for our users, creators, businesses and the global TikTok community.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Top Videos North Koreans mark 14th anniversary of late leader Kim Jong Il’s death<\/p>\n\n\n\n Half of the new TikTok U.S. joint venture will be owned by a group of investors \u2014 among them Oracle, Silver Lake and the Emirati investment firm MGX, who will each hold a 15% share. 19.9% of the new app will be held by ByteDance itself, and another 30.1% will be held by affiliates of existing ByteDance investors, according to the memo. The memo did not say who the other investors are and both TikTok and the White House declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The U.S. venture will have a new, seven-member majority-American board of directors, the memo said. It will also be subject to terms that \u201cprotect Americans\u2019 data and U.S. national security.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n U.S. user data will be stored locally in a system run by Oracle. The memo said U.S. users will continue \u201cenjoying the same experience as today\u201d and advertisers will continue to serve global audiences with no impact from the deal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n TikTok\u2019s algorithm \u2014 the secret sauce that powers its addictive video feed \u2014 will be retrained on U.S. user data to \u201censure the content feed is free from outside manipulation,\u201d the memo said. The U.S. venture will also oversee content moderation and policies within the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n American officials have previously warned that ByteDance\u2019s algorithm is vulnerable to manipulation by Chinese authorities, who can use it to shape content on the platform in a way that\u2019s difficult to detect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The algorithm has been a central issue in the security debate over TikTok. China previously maintained the algorithm must remain under Chinese control by law. But the U.S. regulation passed with bipartisan support said any divestment of TikTok must mean the platform cuts ties \u2014 specifically the algorithm \u2014 with ByteDance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The deal marks the end of years of uncertainty about the fate of the popular video-sharing platform in the United States. After wide bipartisan majorities in Congress passed \u2014 and President Joe Biden signed \u2014 a law that would ban TikTok in the U.S.<\/a> if it did not find a new owner in the place of China\u2019s ByteDance, the platform was set to go dark on the law\u2019s January 2025 deadline. For a several hours, it did. But on his first day in office, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to keep it running<\/a> while his administration tries to reach an agreement for the sale of the company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Three more executive orders followed, as Trump, without a clear legal basis, continued to extend the deadline for a TikTok deal. The second was in April<\/a>, when White House officials believed they were nearing a deal to spin off TikTok into a new company with U.S. ownership that fell apart after China backed out following Trump\u2019s tariff announcement. The third came in June<\/a>, then another in September<\/a>, which Trump said would allow TikTok to continue operating in the United States in a way that meets national security concerns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n