TikTok Reaches Deal to Sell U.S. Operations to American Investors

Washington – TikTok has agreed to sell its U.S. operations to a group of American investors, a source confirmed to CBS News.

Axios first reported the deal.

A law passed last year requires TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, to either separate its U.S. business or face a ban from app stores and web hosting services. The original deadline was January 2025, but President Trump has extended it several times, most recently to January 23, 2026.

In September, President Trump signed an executive order to facilitate a deal, brokered by his administration, that would allow TikTok to continue operating in the U.S. with a new structure and American investors.

According to a senior White House official, ByteDance’s algorithm-the engine behind TikTok’s content recommendations-will be replicated and retrained using only data from U.S. users.Oracle, a cloud-computing firm, will provide thorough security by hosting U.S. user data and auditing the app’s code to ensure it functions securely and appropriately.

The agreement will create a U.S.-based “joint venture” with a majority of American investors and owners, and a board of directors comprised of a majority of Americans, the White House stated in September. ByteDance and its affiliates will hold less than 20% ownership in the new company, complying with the foreign ownership limits set by last year’s law.

A group of American investors, including Oracle, is expected to have a stake in the new TikTok, the White House previously announced. (Oracle was cofounded by Larry Ellison,whose son David Ellison is the chairman and CEO of Paramount Skydance,CBS’s parent company.)