TikTok has reached a deal that will allow it to keep operating in the U.S. According to Reuters, the popular social video app will form a joint venture with a group of investors based in the U.S. and Abu Dhabi.
Under the deal, U.S. investors will buy TikTok’s American operations. The agreement is outlined in an internal TikTok memo seen by Reuters. It says 80% of the new, American version of TikTok will be owned by three investors: the cloud services company, Oracle; the Silver Lake investment firm; and the MGX investment company, which is based in Abu Dhabi.
The rest of TikTok will be retained by its parent company, ByteDance. The memo says the American branch of TikTok will operate independently and will have “authority over U.S. data protection, algorithm security, content moderation, and software assurance." The memo says the deal is expected to close on January 22.
Congress passed a law last year banning TikTok unless most of its U.S. operations were spun off. President Donald Trump delayed the enforcement of the law. The deal will probably need to be approved by regulators in the U.S. and China.
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