If you’ve spent any time on your For You Page lately, you’ve probably heard the rumors. Or maybe you saw a frantic headline about a "ban" that never quite seems to happen. Honestly, trying to figure out who is TikTok owned by in 2026 feels a bit like trying to solve a puzzle where the pieces keep changing shape while you’re holding them.
For the longest time, the answer was simple: ByteDance.
But as of right now, we are sitting in the middle of a massive, high-stakes corporate restructuring that is technically supposed to wrap up on January 22, 2026. This isn't just a boring business merger. It’s a "qualified divestiture"—basically a forced sale—driven by years of political fighting in Washington.
The Current State of Ownership
So, who actually holds the keys? Right now, TikTok is in a weird transition phase. Its parent company is still ByteDance Ltd., a private tech giant based in Beijing. However, because of the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, ByteDance has been forced to carve out its U.S. operations into a brand-new entity.
This new thing is called TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC.
If the deal closing goes as planned this month, the ownership of this U.S. version of TikTok will look something like this:
- Oracle Corp., Silver Lake, and MGX: These three heavy hitters are taking a combined 45% stake (15% each).
- Existing ByteDance Investors: Global firms like BlackRock, General Atlantic, and Susquehanna—who already owned a huge chunk of ByteDance—will hold about 30.1% of the new U.S. entity.
- ByteDance itself: They are keeping 19.9%, which is the absolute legal limit allowed under the current U.S. law.
Basically, ByteDance is still in the room, but they no longer have the "controlling" seat at the head of the table for the U.S. app. Or at least, that’s what the paperwork says.
Wait, Is ByteDance Still a Chinese Company?
This is where people get confused. ByteDance was founded in 2012 by Zhang Yiming and Liang Rubo in a Beijing apartment. Because of that, people call it a Chinese company.
But if you look at the cap table, it’s remarkably global.
Roughly 60% of ByteDance is actually owned by international institutional investors. We’re talking about American and European venture capital firms. Another 20% belongs to the employees (including thousands of people working in the U.S.), and the final 20% is held by the original founders.
Despite this, the U.S. government argues that because ByteDance is headquartered in China, it’s subject to Chinese national security laws. That’s the "why" behind the forced sale. They’re worried the Chinese government could ask for data or mess with the algorithm.
The CEO: Shou Zi Chew’s Role
You’ve probably seen Shou Zi Chew testifying before Congress. He’s the face of the company, but he doesn't own it. Chew is a Singaporean businessman who took over as CEO in 2021.
He’s been the one navigating this nightmare of a deal. In a memo he sent out just a few weeks ago in December 2025, he told employees that while the "USDS" entity handles the data and the algorithm, a separate wing of the company—TT Commerce & Global Services LLC—will still stay under ByteDance’s direct wing. This part handles the money-makers: TikTok Shop, advertising, and marketing.
It’s a split personality for a company. One side is "American-controlled" to keep the regulators happy, and the other side is "ByteDance-controlled" to keep the profits flowing back to the parent company.
Why the Deal Matters for Your Feed
You might be wondering if your app is going to break. Honestly, probably not. But the "ownership" shift means the algorithm—the secret sauce that makes TikTok so addictive—is being "retrained."
Under the new 2026 structure, Oracle (led by Larry Ellison) is the "trusted security partner." They aren't just hosting the data on their servers; they are literally auditing the code. The goal is to make sure the recommendation engine is running on U.S. servers and isn't being influenced by anyone in Beijing.
The Big Misconception: Did Trump Save It?
It’s complicated. President Biden signed the original "sell or be banned" law in 2024. When President Trump took office in 2025, he inherited a looming deadline. Instead of just shutting the app down, his administration pushed for this "Joint Venture" model.
Critics call it a "franchise arrangement." They say ByteDance still has too much influence because they still control the global version of the app. But for the 170 million people in the U.S. who use TikTok, the ownership change is the only reason the app hasn't disappeared from the App Store.
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What Happens Next?
The "closing date" for this whole mess is January 22, 2026.
If the paperwork is finalized, TikTok officially becomes a split entity. If you are an American user, you are technically using an app owned by a consortium of U.S. investors and a minority stake of ByteDance.
Here is what you should watch for in the coming months:
- App Updates: You might be prompted to agree to new Terms of Service as the legal owner of your data shifts to the USDS Joint Venture.
- Algorithm Shifts: Keep an eye on your FYP. With Oracle "retraining" the algorithm on U.S.-only data, the vibes might feel slightly different as the machine learns without its global training set.
- Congressional Hearings: Even with the sale, some lawmakers like Rep. John Moolenaar have already signaled they want to hold hearings later in 2026 to make sure ByteDance isn't still pulling strings from the background.
The bottom line is that while TikTok is no longer "wholly owned" by a Chinese company in the eyes of U.S. law, its roots and its revenue are still very much tied to ByteDance. It’s a messy, modern corporate compromise.