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TikTok Gets An American Lifeline… Finally
Staying on American phones
The long wait over TikTok’s fate in the US is nearly done — President Trump just signed an executive order approving a consortium of buyers to take over an American version.
The Big Picture: The TikTok saga has had more twists than an M. Night Shyamalan movie. After Congress passed a law to ban the app, public pushback made an outright ban politically risky — triggering months of high-stakes dealmaking and geopolitical tension. With an agreement essentially finalized, one thing is clear: TikTok is here to stay.
Now, all eyes are on China for the final sign-off.
Behind The Code: President Trump has extended the already-delayed TikTok ban another 120 days as the deal gets finalized.
The American TikTok is valued at a shockingly low $14 billion — about the same as Snap, per Axios.
Investors include Oracle, PE firm Silver Lake, and Emirati state-run investment firm MGX, with Rupert Murdoch and Dell CEO Michael Dell also in the mix.
The new investors will control about 45% of the company — with each holding an equal share — while ByteDance will retain 19.9%, and TikTok’s current investors will own 35%.
Additionally, Americans will occupy six of the venture’s seven board seats.
The Future: The deal reportedly includes a new algorithm “leased” from ByteDance and will operate “under US control.” But here’s the most interesting wrinkle: despite previous reports, American users won’t need to download a new TikTok app — avoiding the confusion of competing versions.
Trend Watch: All eyes are now on China to publicly sign off on the deal — a move that, if it happens, could pave the way for similar agreements involving sensitive tech like AI and robotics.
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Today’s email was written by David Vendrell.
Edited by Nick Comney. Polled and Copy-edited by Kait Cunniff.
Published by Darline Salazar.