TikTok has dodged the ban bullet once again—this time by birthing a shiny new American alter ego called TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC, where U.S. and global investors hold the reins with 80.1% ownership while ByteDance politely keeps a modest 19.9% stake.
The deal, finalized this week, creates an independent U.S. arm that promises to lock away American user data tighter than a teenager’s phone during family dinner. Oracle continues as the trusty cloud guardian—because nothing says “national security” like letting Larry Ellison’s company babysit your dance videos. The algorithm gets a patriotic makeover too, retrained solely on U.S. data so your For You page stays blissfully free of any foreign meddling vibes.
Over 200 million Americans can keep scrolling without fear of sudden app extinction, sparing countless businesses from losing their viral marketing magic and teenagers from the horror of talking to each other in person.
The move keeps the economic engine humming—7.5 million U.S. businesses reportedly rely on the platform—while giving politicians something new to claim victory over. In the grand theater of geopolitics, everyone gets to declare mission accomplished without anyone actually losing their favorite lip-sync battles.
ByteDance, the Chinese parent company, didn’t exactly sell the farm; they just leased out the American branch with strict house rules. Data stays stateside, content moderation follows robust “trust and safety” policies, and third-party audits will keep everyone honest—or at least give the appearance of honesty.
Leading this new entity is Adam Presser, TikTok’s former operations and trust chief, stepping up as CEO. He’s joined by a seven-member board that’s majority American, including global CEO Shou Zi Chew for that touch of continuity.
The investor lineup reads like a billionaire buddy list. Oracle, Silver Lake, and UAE-based MGX each snag 15% as managing players. Then come the supporting cast: Michael Dell’s family office, Jeff Yass-affiliated Vastmere, Steve Case’s Revolution, and a handful of others who clearly saw dollar signs in short-form chaos.
President Trump, never one to miss a celebratory post, took to Truth Social to thank Chinese President Xi Jinping personally for green-lighting the arrangement. “He could have gone the other way, but didn’t,” Trump wrote, in what might be the most polite cross-Pacific shoutout since ping-pong diplomacy.
China’s embassy stayed predictably mum on specifics, sticking to their “consistent and clear” script without adding any new verses.
The setup cleverly skirts the 2024 law’s divestiture demands by keeping ByteDance’s slice under 20%, while the U.S. side handles e-commerce, ads, and all the money-making bits domestically. Creators stay globally discoverable, so your dance moves can still conquer the world without passport checks.
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