TikTok Finalizes U.S. Deal With Oracle
Moz Farooque ACCA
Fri, December 19, 2025 at 2:23 PM EST
1 min read
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This article first appeared on GuruFocus.
After years of political back and forth, TikTok is finally putting firm guardrails around its U.S. future. The short video platform has signed binding agreements to form a new U.S. based joint venture that will be majority owned by American investors, according to a Bloomberg report citing an internal memo from CEO Shou Chew.
Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) is emerging as the anchor partner in the deal, leading a buyer group that also includes Silver Lake and Abu Dhabi based MGX. Each will hold a 15% stake, with the transaction expected to close on Jan. 22, 2026, pending final approvals. Affiliates of existing ByteDance investors will own 30.1%, while ByteDance itself will retain a 19.9% stake, reducing its influence without fully stepping away.
Once completed, TikTok U.S. will operate as a standalone company with authority over U.S. user data, content moderation, and platform security. Oversight will come from a seven member board with a majority of American directors. Oracle's expanded role in cloud infrastructure and data security helped push its shares more than 5% higher after hours.
There are still open questions around TikTok's recommendation algorithm, which ByteDance will license to the U.S. entity. Even so, the deal marks the clearest step yet toward resolving a long running U.S. policy standoff and securing TikTok's place in the American market.
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