On December 18, TikTok signed bonds to sell more than 80% of its assets in the US to a joint venture led by US and global investors, to avoid the risk of being banned by the US government. The information was notified to the staff by TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew.
According to the agreement, parent company ByteDance and TikTok signed with 3 managing investors including Oracle, Silver Lake and MGX to form a new joint venture called TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC.
The deal is seen as a major step forward in resolving the long-standing uncertainty since 2020, when President Donald Trump first sought to ban Chinese social media applications in the US.
The joint venture's ownership structure shows that a group of new investors will hold a 50% stake, in which Oracle, Silver Lake and MGX each have a 15% stake. Companies affiliated with some existing investors of ByteDance held 30.1%, while ByteDance retained 19.9% of shares.
According to an internal announcement, Oracle, Silver Lake and MGX will all own 45% of the shares, in line with previously announced information. The deal is expected to be completed on January 22, thereby ending many years of efforts to force ByteDance to divest from TikTok operations in the US due to national security concerns.
TikTok said the deal will help more than 170 million US users continue to use the platform and participate in a global community. Oracle declined to comment on the deal, while the White House forwarded the relevant questions to TikTok. ByteDance has not responded to the request for comment.
