Oracle buys American branch TikTok – share rises by eight percent

The American branch of TikTok will be owned by a new joint venture led by tech giant Oracle. This puts an end to years of political pressure from Washington to separate the popular app from the Chinese parent company ByteDance. The news led to an eight percent jump in Oracle’s share price.

TikTok comes under American supervision

According to TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew, the deal was completed on January 22 and the new entity will be called TikTok USDS Joint Venture. Oracle, together with investors Silver Lake and Abu Dhabi-based MGX, will jointly own 50 percent of the shares. ByteDance still holds a 19.9 percent stake, while investors who were previously in ByteDance own the remaining 30.1 percent.

TikTok’s algorithm is being retrained specifically for American users. This uses data that is stored exclusively on American servers, under the supervision of Oracle. Content moderation will also be fully controlled by the American branch. The parties involved want to demonstrate that the app now operates independently and is no longer vulnerable to foreign influence.

Oracle shares immediately benefit from the deal

The stock market responded positively to the news. Oracle shares opened almost six percent higher on Friday. Investors see the deal as a strategic victory, especially because Oracle now acts as a trusted partner and gets exclusive access to TikTok’s data infrastructure. The company also takes responsibility for audits and compliance with US security regulations.

The value of the American branch is estimated at fourteen billion dollars. Although ByteDance retains a minority stake, it will not have control over data, content or algorithms. From now on, that power lies with the joint venture, of which the majority of the board members are American.

Political pressure and geopolitical interests

The sale is the result of political pressure from the US. Back in 2020, Donald Trump wanted to ban TikTok unless it was sold to an American company. That law was reaffirmed in 2024 and set an ultimatum: sales before January 2025 or a total ban on the app.

That ultimatum was recently extended, when Trump himself restarted negotiations. The former president claimed he personally spoke with Chinese President Xi Jinping, who greenlighted the structure of the deal. Trump himself is now active on TikTok and calls the platform crucial for his election campaign.

Relief among American entrepreneurs

The acquisition comes as a relief to many small American entrepreneurs. More than seven million businesses use TikTok for their marketing. “I hope that the user experience is maintained,” said an entrepreneur with more than 300,000 followers. “The conditions for profit distribution are much more favorable here than at Meta, for example.”

European users stay with ByteDance

The takeover of TikTok only applies to the American branch. Nothing will change for Dutch and other European users. The international version of TikTok remains the property of the Chinese ByteDance, including the algorithms, data and content moderation. The measures that the US is now taking stem from American national security legislation. In Europe, platforms such as TikTok are subject to stricter privacy rules such as the GDPR, but there is no mandatory sale here as in the US. ByteDance therefore remains the owner of TikTok as we use it in the Netherlands.