China’s ByteDance signs deal to form joint venture to circumvent TikTok ban in US

China’s ByteDance signs deal to form joint venture to circumvent TikTok ban in US

By David Shepardson
Publication Date: 2025-12-19 19:12:00

  • ByteDance retains 19.9% ​​stake in new joint venture
  • Major investors include Oracle, Silver Lake and MGX
  • The deal aims to address national security concerns and ensure U.S. data privacy, TikTok says
WASHINGTON/HONG KONG, Dec 19 (Reuters) – TikTok’s Chinese owner ByteDance signed binding agreements on Thursday to hand control of the short-video app’s U.S. operations to a group of investors including Oracle (ORCL.N)opens new tabThis is a big step toward avoiding a U.S. ban and ending years of uncertainty.
The deal is a milestone for the short-video app, which is regularly used by more than 170 million Americans after years of struggles started in August 2020as president Donald Trump initially unsuccessfully tried to ban the app over concerns about U.S. national security.

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Financial terms of the deal, disclosed in an internal TikTok (US) memo seen by Reuters, were not disclosed.

Other details of the deal match those outlined in September, when Trump pushed back the deadline until Jan. 20…