A deal has been closed allowing TikTok to continue operations in the US.

In September, an executive order was signed by President Trump to establish a framework to replace Chinese-owner ByteDance with American owners, with the likes of Oracle and media mogul Rupert Murdoch rumoured as investors at the time.

This deal has now been closed, with the new business, TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC, being operated by a seven-member, majority-American board of directors, including TikTok’s global boss, Shou Zi Chew. The three managing investors for TikTok US have been confirmed as Oracle, Silver Lake and MGX, all holding a 15% stake each, with ByteDance retaining a 19.9% stake.

The new US TikTok CEO will be Adam Presser, previously head of operations and trust and safety at TikTok and executive vice-president of WarnerMedia International.

For brands and creators, a key factor to note in this deal is that the algorithm of the US app will be trained on US data only as the company looks to “operate under defined safeguards to protect national security” and “safeguard the US content ecosystem”.

Oracle will be in charge of the algorithm within its US cloud environment.

Impact for brands and creators

Marketing Week has been following the ban closely. In September founder and chief innovation officer at Billion Dollar Boy, Thomas Walters, suggested separate apps will lead to the “consumer experience on the international one [being] very different”, and brands and creators will “certainly all experience significant change if they are completely separated, just as they are in China”.

Yet, at the time, he saw this agreement as creating business for brands and creators with a “bit more” short-term complexity, but “not business lost” as “with change always comes opportunity”.

Scott Guthrie, director general of the Influencer Marketing Trade Body, also said the new algorithm will need to be retrained “adequately”, while Forrester’s principal analyst, Kelsey Chickering, warned that “the recommendation engine will feel different to users”.

“Given the potential players involved in this deal, if the algorithmic scales tip too far toward one political direction, it could send many current TikTok users to other platforms – just like we saw happen with Twitter (now X) following its acquisition,” Chickering claimed at the time, advising brands to be ready to shift to other channels if performance dips.

‘Reassurance and stability’: What the TikTok US deal means for brands

From an advertising perspective, analyst Alex DeGroote said a consortium of investors will “enhance the standing of TikTok in the eyes of brand advertisers, in terms of platform and data integrity” and claimed at the time that TikTok US having its own algorithm “may renew trust with US-only advertisers”, while ByteDance retaining a material ownership share may “reassure advertisers and possibly creators”.

Yet Walters said if advertisers have to use two separate buying platforms, it could lead to “slightly less efficiency” if there isn’t a “dual system scenario”.

The idea of a TikTok ban has been floated for many years over US national security concerns about US data being shared with the Chinese state.

Since then, a short ban was implemented on 19 January 2025, although a day later President Trump used an executive order to stop the action. He then delayed the ban a further four times over the course of 2025, with the December deadline to close pushed again to this week.

The deal also covers other ByteDance apps such as CapCut and Lemon8.