President Trump hailed a deal finalized Thursday that will allow TikTok to continue to operate in the US.
As part of the agreement, the social video platform company will form a new TikTok US joint venture with American investors and avoid the looming threat of a total ban across the 50 states.
“I am so happy to have helped in saving TikTok!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“It will now be owned by a group of Great American Patriots and Investors, the Biggest in the World, and will be an important Voice,” the president continued. “Along with other factors, it was responsible for my doing so well with the Youth Vote in the 2024 Presidential Election.
“I only hope that long into the future I will be remembered by those who use and love TikTok.”
ByteDance, the Chinese parent company of TikTok, will retain a 19.9% stake in the app as part of the new venture.
Silver Lake, Oracle and MGX are among the new investors.
Adam Presser, TikTok’s head of operations and trust and safety, will be the CEO of the new venture.
“The majority American owned Joint Venture will operate under defined safeguards that protect national security through comprehensive data protections, algorithm security, content moderation, and software assurances for US users,” the company said in a statement Thursday.
The 170 million Americans on TikTok can continue using the platform as is on the same app.
In 2024, Congress passed legislation signed by former President Joe Biden forcing ByteDance to divest from TikTok or face a US blackout.
The push to ban TikTok stemmed from bipartisan concerns over the video-sharing app’s algorithm and the ability of the Chinese Communist Party to access user data.
The app went dark for several hours in January 2025 after ByteDance missed the law’s deadline for the company to find a new American owner for TikTok.
Trump signed an executive order on the first day of his second term to keep TikTok up and running in the US while his administration worked on getting a deal done to sell the company.
Under the new venture, Oracle will store US user data domestically, and TikTok’s algorithm, which controls which videos users see in their feeds, will be licensed to the US entity for retraining.
Trump called the deal a “beautiful conclusion” for TikTok and fans of the app.
“Thank you to Vice President JD Vance, and all of the others within my Administration, who helped bring this Deal to a very dramatic, final, and beautiful conclusion,” the president said.
“I would also like to thank President Xi, of China, for working with us and, ultimately, approving the Deal,” Trump added. “He could have gone the other way, but didn’t, and is appreciated for his decision.”
The Chinese government has not publicly commented on TikTok’s announcement.
With Post wires
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