According to engadget, TikTok has signed a deal to spin off its U.S. business, with a closing date set for January 22. The ownership structure will see nearly 50% of the new entity split between three firms: Oracle, Silver Lake, and Abu Dhabi’s state-owned investment firm MGX, each getting about a 15% stake. The rest stays with affiliates of ByteDance, which will also take a direct 20% ownership. U.S. operations will be managed by a seven-member board, mostly Americans, and all U.S. user data will be stored and managed under a system operated by Oracle. This deal aims to permanently keep the app available in the United States after years of political and security concerns.
The Real Winners Arent Who You Think
So, the immediate crisis is over. TikTok isn’t getting banned. But look at this ownership pie. It’s fascinating. Oracle, run by longtime Trump ally Larry Ellison, finally got what it wanted: the keys to TikTok’s U.S. data fortress. That’s a huge, sticky contract that ties TikTok’s future to Oracle’s cloud for years. Then there’s Silver Lake, a private equity giant with its own deep political connections. And MGX? That’s the real eyebrow-raiser. A sovereign wealth fund from Abu Dhabi now owns a major chunk of one of America’s most influential social platforms. It’s a globalized solution to a “national security” problem, which is… ironic, to say the least.
What This Means For TikToks Future
Here’s the thing: ByteDance is still in the driver’s seat with a combined ~50% stake. They’re not giving up control. This deal looks less like a sale and more like a very expensive, complicated licensing and hosting agreement designed to placate U.S. regulators. The “independent” board with a majority of Americans is the political fig leaf. But can this structure actually work long-term? The fundamental tension—a Chinese-founded app with massive American influence—hasn’t gone away. It’s just been buried under layers of corporate governance and data agreements. I think we’ll see constant scrutiny. Every data mishap, every content moderation controversy, will be viewed through the lens of “Is Oracle’s system working?” and “Is the board truly independent?”
A Blueprint For Other Apps?
Basically, this creates a new template. Stuck between geopolitical superpowers? Just create a new corporate entity, sell minority stakes to a consortium of politically-connected firms, and promise to lock the data up with a trusted U.S. tech company. It’s messy, but it might be the only playbook available. The question is, who’s next? Other apps with perceived foreign ties will be looking at this structure very closely. But let’s be real: this deal was born from unique pressure on a uniquely popular app. Replicating it won’t be easy or cheap. For now, TikTok lives to dance another day in the U.S., but its corporate structure just got a lot more complicated.
