TikTok deal: ByteDance to hold one of seven board seats for U.S. operations
A U.S.-China agreement on TikTok’s American operations will give China’s ByteDance one of seven board seats, while American representatives will hold the remaining six, a senior White House official confirmed.
The deal comes as President Donald Trump seeks to prevent a U.S. ban on the platform, which has 170 million American users, following a 2024 law that mandated TikTok’s shutdown by January 2025 unless its U.S. assets were divested. Trump has delayed enforcement of the law to mid-December while negotiating a divestiture and aligning American investors. Talks with China reportedly progressed after a recent call between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, with a face-to-face meeting scheduled in six weeks, News.Az reports, citing Reuters.
Under the agreement, all U.S. user data will be stored on Oracle-run cloud servers in the U.S., and TikTok’s content-recommendation algorithm will be retrained and operated entirely under U.S. supervision, separate from ByteDance’s influence. ByteDance will hold less than 20% of the joint venture controlling TikTok’s U.S. operations, with majority ownership held by American investors. A seven-member board will oversee operations, emphasizing national security and cybersecurity expertise.
While the agreement aims to secure U.S. data and operations, some lawmakers remain cautious. Representative Frank Pallone, a Democrat, emphasized the need to prevent Chinese access to Americans’ personal data and maintain U.S. oversight. ByteDance’s current shareholders include Susquehanna International Group, General Atlantic, and KKR. The deal is still subject to Congressional review to ensure it qualifies as a full divestiture as required by the 2024 law.
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