The news: President Trump issued an executive order Thursday approving a deal to keep TikTok operating in the U.S. by placing significant ownership under U.S. companies. This order addresses national security concerns tied to a law that required TikTok’s parent company, China-based ByteDance, to divest from U.S. operations or face a nationwide ban.
The deal values TikTok’s U.S. operations at $14 billion, Vice President JD Vance said. Per the deal, enterprise technology company Oracle, investment firm Silver Lake, and the Abu Dhabi-based MGX wealth fund would be lead investors in TikTok U.S., holding a combined 45% stake. ByteDance would still hold around 20% of a stake in the company, and ByteDance’s investors would retain the remaining 35%.
Trump said Chinese President Xi Jinping has “given the go-ahead” for the deal, though it still awaits China’s formal approval.
Notably, the deal includes significant investment from MGX, the Abu Dhabi-based state-owned investment fund. MGX’s chairman, the Emirati politician in charge of sovereign wealth, recently attracted controversy for funneling $2 billion into the Trump family’s World Liberty cryptocurrency firm as his firms received AI chips and other political favors from the U.S., The New York Times reported.
The context: The order brings Americans closer to the end of a five-year saga over TikTok’s fate, which began when Trump first moved to ban the app in 2020. The deal restructures TikTok into a prominent U.S.-controlled entity backed by heavyweight investors and pares down ByteDance’s influence—a compromise meant to appease both Washington and China.
ADWEEK has reached out to TikTok for comments.