A U.S. investor group led by Oracle, with Silver Lake and Andreessen Horowitz among the participants, is set to take control of TikTok’s U.S. business under a framework agreement reached by American and Chinese negotiators. The plan creates a new U.S. entity with a mostly American board, keeps Oracle as the cloud provider for U.S. data, and moves American users onto a newly built U.S. app.
Ownership and control
People familiar with the talks say U.S. investors would own roughly 80 percent of the new entity, while ByteDance would retain just under 20 percent through a minority stake. Final structure and governance details will be subject to national security reviews, but current reporting points to ByteDance ceding day-to-day control.
The algorithm question
Rather than a full transfer of TikTok’s core recommendation technology, the deal relies on a license from ByteDance. U.S. engineers would run a rebuilt version of the algorithm for the American app, while Oracle continues to host and secure U.S. user data. That approach is designed to satisfy security concerns without forcing China to give up IP outright.
Timeline and deadlines
Officials and investors are signaling a closing window of about 30 to 45 days once the commercial terms are finalized. The White House has also pushed back enforcement of the sale-or-ban law to December 16, creating breathing room to dot the i’s on governance, data controls, and compliance.
Why this is happening
Congress passed the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act in April 2024, requiring a qualified divestiture for TikTok to stay in the U.S. The courts later upheld the law, and federal guidance laid out how it would be applied. In short, today’s buyout is the path that lets TikTok keep operating for its 170 million U.S. users while shifting control on paper and tightening how data is handled.
What changes for creators and users
If you are in the U.S., you will likely migrate to a new TikTok app tied to the U.S. entity. Expect your content, following, and ad tools to carry over, with most differences happening behind the scenes in data routing and oversight. Oracle will continue to run U.S. infrastructure, and the new board is expected to include robust compliance and audit functions.
What we still do not know
Regulatory sign-offs could add conditions on auditing, content recommendation transparency, or board composition. How much technical visibility ByteDance retains under the license will matter. And while market reaction has been positive for Oracle, the integration work and app migration need to land cleanly to avoid creator churn.
This deal tries to split the difference: keep TikTok usable and culturally relevant in the U.S., move control and data into American hands, and acknowledge that the algorithm remains a prized Chinese export. Execution will decide whether it actually resolves the years-long political and security fight around the app.
Sources: Wall Street Journal, CNBC, Financial Times
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