TikTok signs agreement to sell its US operation to US investors

The social network TikToktook a major step Thursday toward putting an end to both a legal and political battle, after its chief executive officer (CEO), Shou Chew, informed employees that the company officially signed an agreement to sell its US unit to an American-led investor group. As reported by Axios, which broke the news, the transaction is scheduled to close on January 22, 2026, according to an internal Chew memo. The media outlet added that Silver Lake, Oracle and the MGX firm will jointly own 45% of the social network's operationsin the country once the deal is signed.

As reported by Axios, ethe deal would represent the end of the long-running saga to force ByteDance, which is TikTok's parent company, to sell its operations in the country to domestic investors and thus resolve numerous concerns related to national security. The media outlet added that this is because the deal sets in motion the separation of TikTok's U.S. operations from ByteDance in order to comply with a law that prohibits social networking platforms subject to the control of adversarial foreign governments, such as China.

Last year, Congress enacted a law, signed by then-Democratic President Joe Biden, that banned both TikTok and other apps controlled by foreign adversaries in the face of national security concerns related to data protection and the use of the platforms' algorithms for foreign influence operations. The Protecting Americans from Applications Controlled by Foreign Adversaries Act (PAFACA) requires apps such as TikTok to be restricted in the country unless they divest from property subject to the control of adversarial foreign governments, such as the Chinese Communist Party.