The Chief Executive Officer of TikTok reportedly informed employees that the business had approved an agreement.
Do you remember when, in September, President Donald Trump issued an executive order that appeared to settle some of the parameters of an agreement to spin off TikTok's operations in the United States? After a period of three months, it would appear that the same arrangement is getting closer and closer to being official.
Bloomberg reports that Shou Chew, the CEO of TikTok, informed staff that the agreement for management of TikTok's company in the United States had been finalized and signed by both TikTok and ByteDance. The parameters of the contract appear to be comparable to those that Trump announced earlier this year, according to the first impressions. While ByteDance will maintain a modest part in the venture, the majority of the new organization will be controlled by a group of investors from the United States, including Oracle, Silver Lake, and MGX.
The memo from Chew indicates that the transaction is anticipated to be finalized on January 22, 2026. According to Bloomberg, he wrote that "upon the closing, the US joint venture, built on the foundation of the current TikTok US Data Security (USDS) organization, will operate as an independent entity with authority over US data protection, algorithm security, content moderation, and software assurance." This statement was made during the closing of the joint venture. In response to a request for comment, TikTok did not immediately provide a response.
It is important to note that the position of Chinese officials about the deal is still unclear. In September, President Trump stated that China was "fully on board," but subsequent talks between the two countries have resulted in remarks that are ambiguous about their intentions. Within the month of October, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce announced that it will "work with the United States to properly resolve issues related to TikTok."
It will be almost precisely a year after President Trump issued his first executive order to defer the implementation of a law that required a sale or ban of the app being put into action if a deal is indeed reached by the end of the following month. Since that time, he has approved a number of additional extensions.
