TikTok has struck a deal to create a new majority American-owned joint venture that will oversee its operations in the United States, a move aimed at averting a nationwide ban that has loomed for years over national security concerns.

According to Reuters, the short-video platform’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, finalised the agreement on Thursday, 22 January 2026, establishing the TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC, which will be led and largely owned by American and global investors. The arrangement was approved by both the U.S. and Chinese governments, reflecting intense diplomatic negotiations to preserve the app’s presence in its largest single market. 

Under the terms of the deal, U.S. and global investors; including cloud computing giant Oracle, private equity firm Silver Lake, and Abu Dhabi-based AI investor MGX, will collectively hold 80.1 per cent of the new joint venture. ByteDance will retain a 19.9 per cent stake, keeping its ownership just below the threshold set by U.S. law designed to reduce foreign control over the app’s U.S. business. 

Channel NewsAsia noted that the new entity will be responsible for critical functions affecting American users, such as data protection, cybersecurity, algorithm oversight and content moderation, TikTok said in a statement. U.S. user data and algorithmic systems will be housed on Oracle’s American cloud infrastructure, overseen by third-party certification and cybersecurity audits aimed at addressing concerns about foreign access to sensitive personal information. 

Leadership of the venture includes Adam Presser as CEO and Will Farrell as Chief Security Officer, with TikTok’s global CEO Shou Chew joining the new board alongside representatives from the consortium of investors. The structure is intended to satisfy the requirements of a 2024 U.S. law that mandated Chinese ownership be reduced or the app face removal from U.S. app stores, a measure born of bipartisan concerns over Beijing’s potential influence and access to user data. 

TikTok’s future in the United States had been uncertain since the law took effect, triggering legal and political battles. Although the app briefly went offline in early 2025 amid enforcement threats, an executive order by President Donald Trump delayed the ban to allow for negotiations. The joint venture deal effectively quashes the immediate threat of a ban and allows the platform to remain accessible to its more than 200 million American users. 

Despite the agreement, some observers note that legal and operational questions remain over how closely the new venture will operate independently from ByteDance’s global systems, particularly its algorithm. But for now, the deal paves the way for TikTok’s continued operation in the U.S. while reinforcing tighter controls over data security and governance.