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TikTok has reached an agreement to sell its U.S. operations to a group of American investors, allowing the popular video app to continue running in the United States. The buyers include Oracle, Silver Lake and MGX. The deal is expected to be completed on January 22, according to an internal memo reviewed by The Associated Press.
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew said in the memo that ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, has signed binding agreements with the three investors.
Under the new structure, the TikTok U.S. joint venture will be 50 per cent owned by a group of new investors, with Oracle, Silver Lake and MGX each holding a 15 per cent stake. Affiliates of existing ByteDance investors will own 30.1 per cent, while ByteDance will retain a 19.9 per cent share in the business.
The agreement brings to an end a long-running dispute in which US lawmakers and regulators repeatedly warned that TikTok’s Chinese ownership could pose risks to data security and foreign influence.
Efforts to sell or reorganise TikTok’s US business had faced repeated delays as relations remained strained between Washington and Beijing.
TikTok now has more than 170 million users in the United States. A report by the Pew Research Center found that about 43 per cent of Americans under the age of 30 regularly get their news from TikTok—more than from YouTube, Facebook or Instagram.
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