The latest development regarding TikTok's share distribution is an executive order signed by President Donald Trump on September 25, 2025, which approves a deal for a new, majority American-owned company to take over TikTok's U.S. operations. This agreement was reached with the consent of Chinese President Xi Jinping and follows legal pressure that had forced the sale.
Details of the ownership transfer
- New entity: TikTok's U.S. business will be spun off into a new joint venture, valued by Vice President JD Vance at $14 billion. This is significantly lower than some previous estimates of the U.S. operations' worth.
- Share distribution:
- ByteDance: TikTok's Chinese parent company will hold less than 20% of the new entity, satisfying the requirements of a 2024 U.S. law.
- American investors: A consortium of investors, including Oracle, Silver Lake, and Abu Dhabi-based MGX, is expected to hold 45% of the new company. Other current ByteDance investors, such as Susquehanna International Group, General Atlantic, and KKR, will own roughly 35%.
- New board: The new venture will be run by a board of directors, with ByteDance appointing only one of seven members, and the American investors holding the majority.
- Algorithm management: Oracle will oversee TikTok's U.S. data and manage the app's video-recommendation algorithm. The new U.S. company will license the algorithm from ByteDance, with a new copy of the software retrained on American user data.
Regulatory and market context
- U.S. law: The deal is a direct response to the Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, a federal law that went into effect in January 2025. The law required ByteDance to divest its majority stake in TikTok's U.S. business or face a ban, which was upheld by the Supreme Court.
- Government delays: The Trump administration delayed the ban several times before finalizing this deal, allowing TikTok to continue operating in the U.S..
- Ongoing scrutiny: Some U.S. lawmakers have questioned whether the arrangement truly eliminates Chinese influence, noting that ByteDance will still have some ownership and will license the algorithm.
- No IPO: Despite the shift in U.S. ownership, TikTok is still not publicly traded, as it remains owned by the private company ByteDance globally.
