Name: TikTok nears deal to avoid ban in the U.S.
Uploaded: 2025-12-19T17:47:17.701Z
Duration: 1 min 43 s
Description: TikTok has signed a deal to sell its U.S. operations to a group of investors in America, a source familiar with the deal tells CBS News.

TikTok has signed a deal to sell its U.S. operations to a group of investors in America, a source familiar with the deal tells CBS News.

Washington

TikTok has reached an agreement to divest its U.S. operations, moving closer to avoiding a ban in the United States. The deal involves a joint venture where half of the new entity will be owned by investors such as Oracle, Silver Lake, and Abu Dhabi-based MGX, while ByteDance, TikTok's China-based parent company, will retain about 20% ownership. 

A key issue in the negotiations has been the control of TikTok's algorithm, with plans for the new U.S. entity to retrain it on American user data to prevent outside manipulation. The company aims to finalize the deal by January 22, just before a deadline set by President Trump. Details on the execution of these changes remain unclear.

TikTok nears deal to avoid ban in the U.S.

Big news. There we go. For TikTok users this morning, CBS News has confirmed that the company has signed a deal to divest its U.S. operations, taking it a step closer to avoiding a ban. Now, this comes after a years-long battle over security concerns involving its current China-based owner, ByteDance. Jolene Kent has more. Jolene, good morning. Nate, good morning. This is good news for TikTok users. There's still, though, that's a lot quite unclear, and here's what we do know. Reported first by Axios, half of this new TikTok U.S. joint venture will be owned by a group of investors, including the tech giant Oracle, investment firm Silver Lake, and MGX, an Abu Dhabi-based firm. TikTok's Chinese parent company, ByteDance, will retain about 20 percent of the company, though, and one of the biggest sticking points here has been what happens with the algorithm. It's known as TikTok's secret sauce, and it's unclear who exactly will own it in this deal, but according to an internal TikTok memo reviewed by CBS News, the new U.S. entity plans to retrain this algorithm on U.S. user data, which it says will make sure that your feed is, quote, free from outside manipulation, but there are no details on how this investor group plans to actually execute that. TikTok says it expects to close this deal, hopes to close it, by January 22nd, the day before the latest deadline set by President Trump, and we've reached out to all three new major investors. Only Oracle responded, but it declined to comment, and we should point out that Oracle was founded by Larry Ellison, the father of David Ellison, who runs CBS News' parent company, Paramount Skydance. Guys? All right, Jolene, thank you very much.

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