TikTok’s parent company is ByteDance signed an agreement The deal to form a majority US-owned joint venture with a group of non-Chinese investors to keep the social app operating in the US ends a six-year-long political saga that began in 2020 when President Donald Trump tried to ban the app over national security concerns during his first term.
Adam Presser, who was TikTok’s head of operations and trust and security, will be the CEO of TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC. TikTok CEO Shaw Chew will serve as director.
The venture’s three managing investors, Oracle, private equity firm Silver Lake and Abu Dhabi-based investment company MGX, will each hold a 15% stake. Other investors include Michael Dell’s family investment firm as well as several smaller investors.
The TikTok USDS joint venture “will operate under defined security measures that will protect national security for U.S. users through comprehensive data protection, algorithmic protection, content moderation, and software assurance,” TikTok said.
The joint venture will operate as an independent entity governed by seven members. In addition to Chew, the board includes TPG Global’s Timothy Datels, Susquehanna International Group’s Mark Dooley, Silver Lake co-CEO Egon Durban, DXC Technology CEO Raul Fernandez, Oracle’s Kenneth Glueck and MGX’s David Scott.
Trump celebrated this deal Post on Truth SocialExplaining that the app “will now be owned by a group of great American patriots and investors, the largest in the world, and will have an important voice.”
