TikTok has finalized an agreement to transfer its U.S. operations to a new joint venture majority-owned by American investors, but the new owners will have restricted authority over the platform’s core revenue-generating businesses, according to internal memos obtained by multiple news outlets.

The entity, named TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC, is set to finalize on January 22, 2026, CEO Shou Zi Chew told employees, according to Benzinga and Axios. The deal concludes a years-long effort to address national security concerns surrounding the platform’s Chinese parent company ByteDance.

Ownership and Valuation

Oracle, private-equity firm Silver Lake, and Abu Dhabi-based investment firm MGX will collectively control 45% of the U.S. entity, with each holding a 15% stake, according to the memo. Nearly one-third of the company will be held by affiliates of existing ByteDance investors, while ByteDance will retain nearly 20%.

The joint venture will be “majority owned by American investors, governed by a new seven-member majority-American board of directors, and subject to terms that protect Americans’ data and U.S. national security,” Chew wrote in the memo.

The deal values TikTok’s U.S. business at $14 billion, a source confirmed to Axios. Oracle shares rose 5% in after-hours trading following the announcement.

Divided Operational Control

The U.S. joint venture will focus on national security-related tasks, including data protection, algorithm security, content moderation, and software assurance. The entity will be tasked with “retraining the content recommendation algorithm on U.S. user data to ensure the content feed is free from outside manipulation,” according to the memo.

However, ByteDance will retain control over key commercial operations. “The U.S. joint venture, built on the foundation of the current TikTok U.S. Data Security (USDS) organization, will operate as an independent entity with authority over U.S. data protection, algorithm security, content moderation and software assurance, while TikTok global’s U.S. entities will manage global product interoperability and certain commercial activities, including e-commerce, advertising, and marketing,” Chew wrote.

Chew stated that the new investors will not control core business lines – such as TikTok Shop or ad sales – but may share in the business’s profits, according to Benzinga.

Oracle will serve as the “trusted security partner” responsible for auditing and validating compliance with agreed-upon terms, according to the memo. U.S. user data will be stored in Oracle’s U.S.-based cloud computing data centers.

The deal follows a national security law upheld by the Supreme Court that required ByteDance to divest TikTok’s U.S. operations or face a ban. President Donald Trump issued an executive order in September delaying the enforcement of the law for 120 days.

Meanwhile, ByteDance is projected to report approximately $50 billion in net earnings for 2025, according to a Bloomberg report. ByteDance generated about $40 billion in profit through the first three quarters of 2025, with full-year net earnings expected to reach nearly $50 billion.

The projected 2025 profit would place ByteDance’s results within the range of Meta Platforms Inc.’s expectations. The company is targeting approximately 20% sales growth to $186 billion in 2025, according to Stocktwits.