Business & Economics
ByteDance Cedes Control: 80.1 %-US TikTok Joint Venture Sealed to Dodge Ban
On 23 Jan 2026 TikTok closed a deal creating "TikTok USDS JV"—80.1 % owned by US-led investors with Oracle guarding data—to satisfy the 2024 divest-or-ban law and keep the app online for 200 million American users.
Focusing Facts
- ByteDance now holds exactly 19.9 % of the JV, slipping just under Congress’s 20 % ceiling on Chinese ownership.
- Oracle, Silver Lake and Abu-Dhabi–based MGX each control 15 %, with Oracle’s US cloud designated as the exclusive host for all US data and algorithm retraining.
- Sen. Ed Markey and House China-Select Chair John Moolenaar announced on 23 Jan 2026 that Congress will investigate whether the arrangement violates the 2024 law’s ban on algorithm cooperation.
Context
Washington last forced a high-profile foreign tech rollback in 2006, when bipartisan outrage sank Dubai Ports World’s US port takeover; an even older parallel is the 1988 Exon-Florio amendment that let CFIUS block Fujitsu’s bid for Fairchild. The TikTok compromise extends that lineage of security-driven industrial policy into the algorithmic era: intangible code, not cranes or chips, is now the ‘strategic port’ the state wants inside its borders. It also anchors two long arcs—the weaponization of data sovereignty and the gradual US-China techno-decoupling—while revealing their limits: outright bans on wildly popular consumer services remain politically explosive, so partial financial re-shoring becomes the fallback. A century from now this moment may be remembered less for saving a fad app than for establishing a template: powerful nations demanding local majority ownership plus cloud custody of algorithms as the price of market access, carving the internet into gated spheres much like 19th-century mercantile empires carved trade routes.
Perspectives
Chinese state-owned media
Chinese state-owned media — Presents the new majority-American TikTok joint venture as a balanced, lawful outcome that safeguards data while allowing the app to keep thriving in the U.S. Stresses Beijing’s cooperative role and plays down any lingering national-security threat, aligning with China’s diplomatic interest in portraying the dispute as resolved fairly.
Business-focused outlets echoing Trump’s success narrative
Business-focused outlets echoing Trump’s success narrative — Describe the agreement as a milestone that "saves" TikTok, credits Donald Trump’s deal-making skills and reassures investors, creators and users that the app’s future is secure. Highlights economic upside and political victory while skimming over opaque algorithm licensing and unanswered security questions to keep a pro-market, pro-deal tone.
U.S. tech-policy watchdog and critical media
U.S. tech-policy watchdog and critical media — Argue that the deal leaves core national-security and privacy issues unresolved, warning of potential CCP access or MAGA-aligned manipulation and urging congressional investigation. Leans on speculative worst-case scenarios and partisan distrust to demand stricter oversight, which can amplify readers’ fears and drive engagement.