TikTok’s US workers can finally breathe a sigh of relief.
The company announced Thursday that it has closed a deal to spin off parts of its US business in a new joint venture with an investor group.
Adam Presser is leading the new venture, according to an internal memo reviewed by Business Insider. Presser has worked at TikTok for nearly four years, most recently leading operations and trust and safety.
The agreement should keep the US government off its back as TikTok’s parent, ByteDance, now owns just under 20% of the new US venture. That ownership stake meets a divestment requirement set by a 2024 US sell-or-ban law targeting TikTok and other apps with owners based in countries like China, which the US has deemed a foreign adversary.
According to a December memo from the company, TikTok’s new US owners include tech company Oracle, private-equity firm Silver Lake, and Abu Dhabi investment firm MGX, each of which owns 15% of the new venture. Affiliates of existing ByteDance investors will own around 30% of the entity, while 5% will be sold to an unnamed group of new investors.
The deal has received the blessings of the US and China, suggesting most of TikTok’s political woes are now behind it. What comes next is less clear.
While Oracle, MGX, and Silver Lake will serve as managing investors in the new US joint venture, their focus will be on areas such as data security. Key commercial activities, including e-commerce, advertising, and marketing, will remain with ByteDance.
The company began splitting up its US staff into different legal entities in January based on whether their work would remain under ByteDance’s purview.
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