Report: TikTok Has Agreed to Divest its US Operations to American Consortium

ByteDance, the Chinese owner of TikTok, has reportedly agreed to divest its US operations to a consortium of companies that includes Oracle, the investment firm Silver Lake, and Abu Dhabi-based MGX. As part of the agreement, the three companies will own 45% of the new TikTok US joint venture, with ByteDance keeping a 20% share.

Axios broke the news yesterday after obtaining an internal memo from ByteDance CEO Shou Chew, which mentions a January 22, 2026, closing date for the deal. In its memo to employees, Chew said that Oracle will act as a “trusted security partner” responsible for “safeguarding sensitive U.S. user data, which will be stored in a trusted and secure cloud environment in the United States run by Oracle.”

This whole TikTok saga, which started with a US law that banned the app in the country over national security concerns, may not be fully over yet as Chinese regulators have yet to approve the deal. It’s also not really clear yet if the new TikTok U.S. joint venture will be completely free from the influence of ByteDance.

The memo said that TikTok’s algorithm will be retrained using data from US users to “ensure the content feed is free from outside manipulation.” However, details on the revenue-sharing agreement between the new US joint venture and ByteDance, which will reportedly continue to control e-commerce and advertising activities, are still unclear at this time.

A lot could still happen between today and January 22, which is when the deal is expected to close. However, President Trump has signed several executive orders in recent months to prevent the app from going dark in the US. TikTok is currently used by more than 170 million Americans, and it’s hard to deny its influence on other social networks such as Instagram and Facebook.