TikTok owner ByteDance has agreed a deal with investors that will stop the social media app from being banned in the United States.
TikTok owner ByteDance has signed a deal to prevent the social media platform from being banned in the US.
The Chinese company has put pen to paper on binding agreements with both US and global investors to operate its business in America.
Half of the joint venture will be owned by a group of investors that includes Oracle, Silver Lake and MGX.
The deal is set to close next month and will end years of effort from Washington to force ByteDance to sell its US operations amid concern about national security.
It is in line with the deal that was agreed in September, when US President Donald Trump delayed the enforcement of a law that would ban the app if it wasn’t sold.
As part of the agreement, ByteDance will retain 19.9 per cent of the business, with Oracle, Silver Lake and MGX holding 15 per cent each.
Another 30.1 per cent will be held by affiliates of current ByteDance investors.
A memo sent by TikTok chief executive Shou Zi Chew declared that the deal will allow “over 170 million Americans to continue discovering a world of endless possibilities as part of a vital global community”.
The TikTok deal comes after a number of delays – with US Congress passing a law to ban the app unless it was sold during former President Joe Biden’s administration in April 2024.
The law was due to come into effect on 20 January 2025 but was delayed several times following Trump’s return to the White House as his administration looked to work out a deal.
Trump revealed earlier this year that he had spoken with Chinese President Xi Jinping, who had given the deal his seal of approval – but TikTok’s fate had been insecure because of the tension that exists between the two countries.
Alvin Graylin, a senior lecturer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said: “TikTok has become a bargaining chip in the wider US-China relationship.
“With recent softening tensions, Beijing’s sign-off on the structure and algorithm licensing now looks less like capitulation and more like calibrated de-escalation, letting both capitals claim a win at home.”
TikTok owner ByteDance agrees deal to prevent US ban
