- TikTok’s US sales may close on January 22, 2026
- A new American-led joint venture would take control of operations
- ByteDance would have a minority stake
TikTok’s fortunes in the US have 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 on the way.
According to reports from CNBC and Axios, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew confirmed that in a deal set to close on January 22, 2026, TikTok in the US will be part of a new joint venture called ‘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 China-based ByteDance – the original owner of TikTok – which will still retain a percentage.
This is a big change for TikTok, which has had a tumultuous year in the US. It started with a ban, and then the Trump administration offered a few extensions and a promise of US ownership on the horizon – not full ownership, but at least 80% US ownership. It will effectively keep TikTok available, but it will change the experience of the app as the algorithm is unlikely to remain intact.
In the memo, seen by CNBC, Shou Zi Chew is reported to have written that the venture will be “majority-owned by US investors, governed by a new seven-member majority-US board and subject to terms that protect Americans’ data and US national security.”
Much of this effort is focused on US operations, and a central principle would be to address – or at least mitigate – US national security concerns, which were the original reason behind the proposed ban and led us down this path.
The joint venture will be charged with protecting US data on the app, including the all-important algorithm that drives 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, “retraining the content recommendation algorithm on US user data to ensure the content feed is free of external manipulation.”
However, TikTok’s global aspects do not disappear completely. ByteDance, TikTok’s current parent company, will still retain a percentage ownership of ‘TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC’ and will also ensure that US TikTok works with the other versions of the app.
It remains to be seen whether this deal will officially close, but also what this really means for TikTok and how it could change the experience for the countless users in the US. TechRadar has reached out to TikTok for further comment on the reports and for details on this sale.
As a reminder, the last major update came in September 2025, when the White House said it had worked through a deal with China to sell TikTok’s US operations to a new venture and a US group. In 2020, the first Trump administration issued an executive order for a sale, beginning this years-long process.
However, it appears that TikTok’s US operations may soon switch from China-based ByteDance to a new US-run entity – a change that could take effect on January 22, 2026.
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