The long and complex story regarding the permanence of TikTok on American soil has reached a decisive turning point with the formalization of the new TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC. This new corporate entity represents the direct and definitive response to the legislative pressures that culminated with the law signed by President Biden in 2024, which placed the company facing an ultimatum: total divestment or the so-called “TikTok ban” from app stores.
Just over a year after the first concrete threats of removal, we can confirm that ByteDance, the Chinese company that owns TikTok, will be left with a minority stake of 19.9%, calculated to satisfy national security terms. Effective control of the platform now passes to a Western-led consortium, where 80.1% of the shares are held by US investors. Leadership is entrusted to three «managing investors» (Silver Lake, Oracle and Abu Dhabi investment firm MGX) who each own 15% of the company.
The deal is not limited to a simple transfer of shares, but radically restructures TikTok’s technical infrastructure: US user data and recommendation algorithms will now be hosted and armored within Oracle’s cloud environment. The joint venture (a form of business agreement in which two or more companies create a new legal entity to realize a joint project) will have complete authority over moderation, security and source code validation, extending its control not only to TikTok, but also to other applications in ByteDance’s portfolio, such as the video editor CapCut and the Lemon8 platform, while ensuring that the user experience remains global and interconnected.
The details of the new structure
Analyzing in detail the corporate structure we are faced with, we observe how the majority of 80.1% is now firmly distributed among actors who guarantee an operational detachment from Beijing. In addition to the three core managers already mentioned, the investor consortium includes a number of smaller but significant strategic partners, including the family office of Michael Dell (founder of Dell Technologies), French telecommunications entrepreneur Xavier Niel’s NJJ Capital, and various investment funds such as Vastmere, General Atlantic and Alpha Wave Partners, to name a few.
The official press release did not disclose the exact figures for these acquisitions (JD Vance had spoken months ago of 14 billion dollars but the figure was not confirmed), but did disclose the governance structure. The seven-member board of directors sees Adam Presser, previously head of operations and security at TikTok, take on the role of CEO of the new entity, joined by key figures, such as the current CEO of TikTok US, Shou Zi Chew.
The agreed architecture provides a delicate balance between data isolation and service interoperability. Interoperability is the key concept that allows computer systems to exchange information and work together: in this context, it allows American users to continue to enjoy a global TikTok experience and US creators to be visible to the rest of the world.
The role of Oracle
The sensitive core of the application undergoes a physical and logical migration to servers considered safe by Washington. The USDS Joint Venture is responsible for protecting the entire ecosystem within the Oracle cloud. This means that the recommendation algorithm, i.e. the complex mathematical system that selects videos to show in the “For You” feed, will be retrained, tested and updated exclusively using data resident in the United States.
To ensure these measures are effective, the new company has adopted industry- and government-grade cybersecurity standards. The security program adheres to rigorous protocols such as the CSF and the 800-53 standard (guidelines developed by National Institute of Standards and Technology for IT risk management), in addition to ISO 27001 certification and CISA requirements (Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency) for sensitive transactions. It is in this context that Oracle takes on the crucial role of Trusted Security Partner, with the task of reviewing and validating the source code (the instructions written by the programmers that make the app work) on an ongoing basis.
