After a seemingly endless saga spanning several years, the TikTok tug-of-war has finally come to an end. Its parent company, ByteDance, has finalised a deal to transfer parts of its US operations to American investors. As such, the app can continue to exist within the country.
Part of the agreement involves the creation of the TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC, which has three managing investors: Silver Lake, Oracle, and MGX. According to a statement released by the new entity, these three companies each hold a 15% stake, while ByteDance holds 19.9%. The remaining shares are owned by other investors.
What happens now?
The joint venture is largely responsible for protecting the data of US users, as well as content moderation on TikTok. This will be handled using Oracleโs secure cloud environment. Other than that, the entity will retrain and update the appโs algorithm on US user data. These changes will also affect CapCut, Lemon8, as well as other related apps and websites.
Since this deal pretty much concerns the US, those outside the country are unlikely to see any obvious changes. On the other hand, American users may end up having a different experience altogether. That said, the entity promises interoperability. This means that US users should still be able to interact with the rest of the globe.
On the leadership end, Adam Presser is at the helm of the joint venture as CEO, with Will Farrell acting as CSO. Meanwhile, its seven-member board of directors is composed of an American majority, although TikTok CEO Shou Chew does get a seat at the table.
The TikTok Timeline
As a refresher, hereโs a quick rundown on how the TikTok tale unfolded.
- In August 2020, US President Donald Trump proposed a ban on TikTok, citing national security concerns. The President went on to offer ByteDance a choice: either divest its US business or get the boot. In response, the company filed a lawsuit.
- The push for a TikTok ban continued after Trumpโs term ended, with the Biden administration issuing the same ultimatum. In 2024, the US Senate passed a bill to ban the platform unless it found an American buyer.
- When Trump returned to power, he made a complete U-turn on his initial stance, calling for a delay on the ban. What followed was a temporary shutdown, and then a series of extensions on the ban deadline while potential buyers threw their hats in the ring.
- Finally, after a series of negotiations, we come to this deal, which apparently places a US$14 billion (~RM59 billion) value on the new venture. And in his usual fashion, Trump has taken to Truth Social to pat himself on the back for helping put TikTok into the hands of “Great American Patriots and Investors”.
(Source: TikTok [Newsroom])
