The TikTok USDS (U.S. Data Security) logo appears on a smartphone screen in this illustration photo in Reno, United States, on Dec. 19, 2025.
Jaque Silva | Nurphoto | Getty Images
TikTok said Thursday that it formed a joint venture to keep the video-sharing app operating in the U.S. under the leadership of an American executive.
The company said Adam Presser, who has been serving as TikTok’s head of operations and trust and safety, will be the CEO of TikTok USDS Joint Venture. Presser has worked at TikTok for almost four years and was previously a senior executive at Warner Bros.
TikTok CEO Shou Chew will be a director of the newly formed venture, which will run as an “independent entity,” according to Thursday’s announcement.
TikTok USDS Joint Venture “will operate under defined safeguards that protect national security through comprehensive data protections, algorithm security, content moderation, and software assurances for U.S. users,” the company said.
The venture will be governed by a seven-member board of directors, the majority of which are American. In addition to Chew, the board is comprised of TPG Global’s Timothy Dattels, Susquehanna International Group’s Mark Dooley, Silver Lake co-CEO Egon Durban, DXC Technology CEO Raul Fernandez, Oracle‘s Kenneth Glueck, and MGX’s David Scott.
ByteDance, the Chinese parent of TikTok, will retain 19.9% of the new venture. Silver Lake, Oracle and MGX are the new managing investors. Other backers include Michael Dell’s investment firm, Vastmere Strategic Investments, Alpha Wave Partners, Revolution, and General Atlantic affiliate Via Nova.
ByteDance was subject to a national security law, originally signed by former President Joe Biden, that required the company to sell its U.S. operations or be effectively banned in the country. That law was never enacted due to several executive orders signed by President Donald Trump last year.
Those orders kept the attorney general from enforcing the national security law while the app’s leaders searched for a buyer.
“Interoperability enables the Joint Venture to provide U.S. users with a global TikTok experience, ensuring U.S. creators can be discovered and businesses can operate on a global scale,” the company said. “TikTok global’s U.S. entities will manage global product interoperability and certain commercial activities, including e-commerce, advertising, and marketing.”
TikTok’s prized content-recommendation algorithm will now be hosted within Oracle’s American data centers, and it will be retrained, tested and updated on U.S. user data, the company said. The new structure also helps keep sibling apps like CapCut, Lemon8 and other unspecified services and websites operational in America, the statement said.
Although the Chinese government hasn’t commented publicly on the deal, Semafor reported earlier on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter, that the U.S. and Chinese governments have signed off on the sale, and that the deal was set to close this week.
President Trump said in September that Chinese President Xi Jinping had agreed to move forward with the proposed deal that was codified that month via an executive order. At the time, U.S. Vice President JD Vance said there was “some resistance” from the Chinese government to support the deal, which he said would value TikTok’s U.S. business at $14 billion.
Chew revealed the name of TikTok’s U.S. entity to employees in December and said it signed an agreement to form a new U.S. joint venture, CNBC reported.
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