TikTok strikes deal for US sale

TikTok's Chinese proprietor has signed a woody to merchantability the company's US limb to American investors – ensuring the video level tin proceed operating successful the United States.

The woody is expected to adjacent connected 22 January 2026, according to an interior memo seen by Sky News' US partner, NBC News.

It volition extremity years of uncertainty implicit the app's aboriginal successful the States, aft Joe Biden signed a instrumentality past year that required TikTok's Chinese owners to merchantability up - oregon other it would beryllium blocked.

The instrumentality was introduced amid concerns from immoderate US politicians that ByteDance mightiness stock idiosyncratic information with the Chinese government, contempt repeated assurances from the steadfast that it would not.

Critics besides expressed fears that Chinese authorities whitethorn beryllium capable to manipulate TikTok's algorithms and signifier what contented users spot and are influenced by. This assertion was besides denied.

Mr Biden acceptable a January 2025 deadline for the merchantability and erstwhile ByteDance failed to comply, TikTok went acheronian for respective hours.

It returned aft Donald Trump signed an enforcement bid to support it running connected his archetypal time successful office.

Who's taking over?

The interior memo sent to employees connected Thursday said the woody allows "over 170 cardinal Americans to proceed discovering a satellite of endless possibilities arsenic portion ‌of a captious planetary community."

TikTok proprietor ByteDance volition merchantability conscionable implicit 80% of the company's US assets to 3 large investors, Reuters quality bureau reports.

The investors - Oracle, Silver Lake and MGX - volition signifier a caller venture, named TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC.

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The task volition beryllium 50% held by the consortium of US investors, Reuters added, with affiliates of definite existing ByteDance investors holding 30.1% and ByteDance itself retaining 19.9%.

It volition person a new, seven-member majority-American committee of directors and beryllium taxable to presumption that "protect Americans' information and US nationalist security", the memo said.

Data from users successful the US volition beryllium stored locally.