TikTok’s China-based owner ByteDance will maintain ownership of TikTok’s US business operations and will cede control of the app’s data, content and algorithm to the newly formed joint venture, sources familiar with the matter said.
ByteDance’s bigger-than-expected role in the new TikTok entity lays out the continued and significant involvement of the China-based global tech giant. On Thursday, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order declaring a plan to sell the China-based company’s TikTok US operations to a consortium of investors that include Oracle, Silver Lake and others to satisfy national security requirements.
The details about the ownership structure under discussion may raise questions in Congress and among critics about whether the deal approved by Trump represents a qualified divestiture of all of TikTok’s US assets as required under a 2024 law, which required ByteDance to divest its US operations or face a ban.
Yesterday after a Reuters report, the chair of the House Select Committee on China John Moolenaar, a Republican, said he will conduct full oversight over the deal, adding that the deal should “preclude operational ties between the new entity and ByteDance.”
“The law also set firm guardrails that prohibit co-operation between ByteDance and any prospective TikTok successor on the all-important recommendation algorithm,” Moolenaar said.
The structure is still under discussion and could yet change, these sources said.
Sources said the new US TikTok would be divided into two companies. The joint venture that was announced by Trump will serve as the backend operations to the US company and handle US user data and algorithm.
ByteDance is expected to be the single largest minority shareholder in the joint venture, sources said.
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