TikTok says it has finalised deal to establish US entity, avoiding Trump ban

TikTok has announced it has closed a deal to establish a new US entity, allowing it to sidestep a ban and ending a long legal battle.

The deal finalised by ByteDance, TikTok’s Chinese owner, sets up a majority US-owned venture, with investors including Larry Ellison’s Oracle, the private-equity group Silver Lake and Abu Dhabi’s MGX owning 80.1 per cent of the new entity, while ByteDance will own 19.9 per cent.

Thursday’s announcement comes five years after Donald Trump first threatened to ban the popular platform in the US during his first term.

TikTok’s future in the US had been unclear, a saga that began after Congress overwhelmingly voted to pass a law banning the social media app in 2024 unless it found a US buyer. The supreme court upheld the law in January 2025, but on Trump’s first day in office, he signed an executive order postponing the ban. He has since repeatedly continued to delay its enforcement while the US, the company and potential American partners were negotiating over an agreement.

In September, Trump signed another executive order, which outlined a plan for US investors to take over the majority of the company’s operations and for the new version of TikTok to be controlled by a seven-member, majority-US board of directors of cybersecurity and national security experts.

Adam Presser, who previously served as TikTok’s general manager and global head of operations and trust and safety, would serve as chief executive of the new venture, the company said on Thursday. The board will include Shou Chew, TikTok’s CEO.

The US entity will “operate under defined safeguards that protect national security through comprehensive data protections, algorithm security, content moderation and software assurances for US users”, the announcement said. The content recommendation algorithm will be retrained, tested and updated based on US user data, the firm added.

A White House official said the Chinese and US governments had signed off on the deal, though the Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately comment, Reuters reported.

In a post on social media Thursday night, Trump thanked China’s president, Xi Jinping, “for working with us and, ultimately, approving the Deal”. “I am so happy to have helped in saving TikTok! It will now be owned by a group of Great American Patriots and Investors, the Biggest in the World, and will be an important Voice,” the president wrote.

[ TikTok restores service in US after Donald Trump pledges a reprieveOpens in new window ]

Concerns from US lawmakers and officials about TikTok center around user data security, with fears that the Chinese government could use the platform to harvest data from US users, claims which the company has repeatedly denied.

The legislation passed in 2024 under Joe Biden barred ByteDance from retaining operational ties with a US TikTok venture, but the law gave the president authority to decide if a deal complies with its requirements.

The threat of a ban had caused widespread backlash in the US from influencers and creators who depend on the app.

Silver Lake, Oracle and MGX will each hold 15 per cent in the new venture, the company said. The investment firm of Michael Dell, the billionaire founder of Dell Technologies, is also an investor. – Guardian