- TikTok US sale could close on January 22, 2026
- New US-led joint venture would take control of operations
- ByteDance would have a minority stake
TikTok’s fate in the United States has been in flux since Congress passed a law forcing its sale to American owners, and after several deadline extensions by the Trump White House, the long-awaited deal may finally be implemented.
According to reports from CNBC and Axios, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew has confirmed that in a deal expected to close on January 22, 2026, TikTok in the United States will be part of a new joint venture dubbed “TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC.” Oracle, Silver Lake and Abu Dhabi-based MGX will be the three main partners, among other new investors, but it will be shared with Chinese company ByteDance – the original owner of TikTok – which will still retain a percentage.
It’s a big change for TikTok, which has had a tumultuous year in the United States. It started with a ban, then the Trump administration proposed some extensions and a promise of U.S. ownership on the horizon – not total, but at least 80% U.S. ownership. This will indeed keep TikTok available, but it will change the experience of the app, as the algorithm likely won’t remain intact.
In the memo, which was seen by CNBC, Shou Zi Chew is reported to have written that the company will be “majority-owned by U.S. investors, governed by a new board of directors comprised of seven majority-American members, and subject to terms that protect Americans’ data and U.S. national security.”
Much of this endeavor focuses on U.S. operations, and a key principle would be resolving – or at least mitigating – the national security concerns in the United States, which were behind the proposed ban and led us down this path.
The joint venture will be responsible for protecting US data on the app, including the all-important algorithm that powers the “For You” feed and what each user sees in the app, as well as content moderation. Axios, which has seen the memo, reports that it reads: “retrain content recommendation algorithm on U.S. user data to ensure content flow is free from outside manipulation.”
The global aspects of TikTok won’t disappear completely, however. ByteDance, TikTok’s current parent company, will still retain a percentage ownership in the “TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC” and will also ensure that American TikTok works with other versions of the app.
It remains to be seen whether this deal officially goes through, but also what it actually means for TikTok and how it could change the experience for countless users in the United States. TechRadar has reached out to TikTok for further comment on the reports and for more details on this sale.
As a reminder, the last major update took place in September 2025, when the White House said it had negotiated a deal with China to sell TikTok’s American operations to a new company and an American group. In 2020, the first Trump administration issued an executive order requiring a sale, beginning this years-long process.
It appears, however, that TikTok’s U.S. operations could soon move from China-based ByteDance to a new U.S.-operated company – a change that could take effect on January 22, 2026.
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