ByteDance, TikTok’s Chinese parent, sold most of its US operations to non-Chinese investors on Thursday to avoid a ban and reduce alleged national security risks.
The new owners, including Oracle, MGX, Silver Lake and Michael Dell’s entity, will control more than 80% of the new entity, ensuring the continuity of the popular application in the United States, according to the parent company.
The operation was negotiated for more than a year and puts an end to a legal dispute that lasted six years.
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Since 2019, TikTok faced blocking attempts by legislators, universities, the Army and the White House, amid technological and commercial tension between the US and China. The app had been subject to threats of a ban and a temporary 14-hour blackout.
The sale had been advanced on December 18, 2025 and highlighting that the three entities will have 45% of the shares, while around 33% will be in the hands of subsidiaries of the main investors behind ByteDance, which would maintain control of approximately 18% of the remaining shares.
Users and influencers organized protests and campaigns, during the long legal limbo, to keep the platform active, which has more than 200 million users in the United States, becoming a key terrain of the dispute between both powers.
With information from EFE
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