TikTok Seals Historic $80B+ Deal: New US Entity Dodges Ban
TikTok finalized a groundbreaking deal on January 22, 2026, establishing a new American entity that solidifies the popular social media platform’s presence in the United States, following years of uncertainty due to its Chinese ownership.
The social video platform entered into agreements with key investors, including Oracle, private equity firm Silver Lake, and UAE-based investment firm MGX, to form the new TikTok U.S. joint venture. Each of these three principal investors holds a 15% stake in the new company, while ByteDance, TikTok’s Beijing-based parent company, retains a 19.9% stake in the venture.
The newly formed entity will operate under “defined safeguards that ensure national security through comprehensive data protections, algorithm security, content moderation, and software assurances for U.S. users,” as per TikTok’s statement. The company’s algorithm will be retrained using U.S. user data, with Oracle taking charge of data storage and security.
President Donald Trump lauded the agreement on Truth Social, expressing gratitude to Chinese President Xi Jinping “for working with us and, ultimately, approving the Deal.” This deal concludes a prolonged saga that witnessed TikTok briefly going offline in January 2025 before Trump postponed enforcement of a ban that had been signed into law by President Biden.
The platform’s 200 million U.S. users can continue using the app without interruption. The deal signifies a major milestone for the video-sharing platform that had been under the threat of a nationwide ban due to national security concerns.
Source: ABC News