The popular social media platform TikTok has finalized a comprehensive ownership restructuring that establishes a majority American-owned entity while preserving strategic leadership continuity through the board participation of global CEO Shou Chew. The announcement Thursday resolves a five-year conflict over the app’s operations in the United States.
ByteDance, the Chinese parent company of TikTok, has agreed to a structure reducing its ownership to 19.9%, while American investors assume controlling interest with 80.1% of the company. Three major investors share equal ownership at 15% each: Oracle, led by technology billionaire Larry Ellison; Silver Lake, a prominent private equity firm focused on technology sector investments; and MGX, an investment fund from Abu Dhabi. Michael Dell’s investment firm provides additional American capital to the ownership consortium.
This resolution addresses legislation enacted by Congress in 2024 that effectively banned TikTok unless it separated from Chinese ownership within a designated timeframe. The law reflected bipartisan concern about national security risks, including potential unauthorized access to user data by foreign governments and possible algorithmic manipulation. The Supreme Court affirmed the legislation’s validity in January 2025, but President Trump utilized executive authority to postpone enforcement during negotiations.
Leadership of the day-to-day American operations will be entrusted to Adam Presser, who previously held senior positions managing global operations and trust and safety functions for TikTok. The company will be overseen by a seven-member board of directors, deliberately designed with an American majority and composed of cybersecurity and national security experts. Shou Chew, who continues to serve as TikTok’s global chief executive, will join this board, ensuring coordination between the independently-operated US entity and worldwide operations while maintaining his leadership of the global organization.
The new US entity commits to implementing rigorous safeguards for American users, including comprehensive data protection protocols, secured algorithms, enhanced content moderation, and software integrity measures. The platform’s recommendation algorithm will be completely retrained using exclusively US user data, with ongoing testing and refinement to ensure independence from foreign systems. Both US and Chinese government officials have approved the arrangement, with President Trump publicly thanking Chinese President Xi Jinping for his role in facilitating the deal that allows the platform to continue serving its massive American user base.