WASHINGTON: TikTok’s Chinese owner, ByteDance, on Thursday said it has finalised a deal to establish a majority American-owned joint venture that will secure US data, to avoid a US ban on the short video app used by over 200 million Americans.

The deal is a milestone for the social media firm after years of battles that began in August 2020 when President Donald Trump tried to ban the app over national security concerns.

Trump later opted not to enforce a law passed in April 2024 requiring ByteDance to sell its US assets by the following January or face a ban – a measure upheld by the Supreme Court.

ByteDance said TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC will secure US user data, apps and algorithms through data privacy and cybersecurity measures. It disclosed few details about the divestiture.

Trump praised the deal in a social media post saying TikTok “will now be owned by a group of Great American Patriots and Investors, the Biggest in the World.”

He thanked Chinese President Xi Jinping “for working with us and, ultimately, approving the Deal. He could have gone the other way, but didn’t, and is appreciated for his decision.”

The agreement provides for American and global investors to hold 80.1% of the venture while ByteDance will own 19.9%.

TikTok USDS JV’s three managing investors – cloud computing giant Oracle, private equity group Silver Lake (SILAK.UL) and Abu Dhabi-based investment firm MGX – will each hold 15%.

A White House official told Reuters that the US and Chinese governments had signed off on the deal. The Chinese Embassy in Washington did not immediately comment.

Trump last year said the deal met the terms of divestiture requirements under the 2024 law. The White House in September said the venture would operate TikTok’s US app. Interested parties have yet to disclose elements of the deal such as the business relationships between the venture and ByteDance.

The president has more than 16 million followers on his personal TikTok account and credited the app with helping him win reelection. He received a document from TikTok on December 22 touting how popular he is on the app, showed a photo published this month by the New York Times. The White House also launched an official TikTok account in August.

TikTok said investors in the venture include Dell Family Office – investment firm of Dell Technologies founder Michael Dell – plus Vastmere Strategic Investments, Alpha Wave Partners, Revolution, Merritt Way, Via Nova, Virgo LI and NJJ Capital.

Former TikTok USDS figures Adam Presser and Will Farrell have been appointed CEO and chief security officer respectively.

TikTok CEO Shou Chew was also named to the venture’s board; he leads TikTok’s global businesses and strategy.

The venture will retrain, test and update TikTok’s content recommendation algorithm on US user data and the algorithm will be secured in Oracle’s US cloud, TikTok said.

In September, Reuters reported, citing sources, that ByteDance would maintain ownership of TikTok’s US business operations but would cede control of the app’s data, content and algorithm to the venture.

The venture will serve as backend operations to the US company and handle US user data and the algorithm, sources said at the time. They said a separate division wholly owned by ByteDance would control revenue-generating business operations such as e-commerce and advertising.

The new venture will receive a portion of revenue for its technology and data services, the sources added.

• Nato to enhance Arctic presence under US framework deal.
• Trump’s Greenland ambitions strain transatlantic ties.
• EU leaders wary of US reliability post-Greenland episode.

President Donald Trump said on Thursday he had secured total and permanent US access to Greenland in a deal with Nato, whose head said allies would have to step up their commitment to Arctic security to ward off threats from Russia and China.

News of a framework deal came as Trump backed off tariff threats against Europe and ruled out taking Greenland by force, bringing a degree of respite in what was brewing to be the biggest rupture in transatlantic ties in decades.

Trump’s U-turn triggered a rebound in European markets and a return toward record highs for Wall Street’s main indexes, but also raised questions about how much damage had already been done to transatlantic ties and business confidence.

Details of any agreement were unclear and Denmark insisted its sovereignty over the island was not up for discussion. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said the bloc’s US relations had “taken a big blow” in the past week, as EU leaders met for an emergency summit.

Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen welcomed Trump’s comments but said he was still in the dark on many aspects.

“I don’t know what there is in the agreement, or the deal, about my country,” he told reporters in the capital Nuuk.

“We are ready to discuss a lot of things and we are ready to negotiate a better partnership and so on. But sovereignty is a red line,” he said, when asked about reports that Trump was seeking control of areas around US military bases in Greenland as part of a wider deal.

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on his return from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Trump said a new deal was being negotiated that would be “much more generous to the United States, so much more generous.”

He skirted questions on sovereignty, but said: “We have to have the ability to do exactly what we want to do.”

Earlier Trump told Fox Business Network the deal would essentially bring “total access” for the United States.

“There’s no end, there’s no time limit.”

A source familiar with the matter told Reuters Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte and Trump agreed in a Davos on further talks between the US, Denmark and Greenland on updating a 1951 agreement that governs US military access and presence on the Arctic island.

The framework they discussed also calls for prohibiting Chinese and Russian investments in Greenland, the source said.

Another source familiar with the matter said what was agreed was “a frame on which to build,” adding that “anything being reported on specific details is speculative.”

Rutte told Reuters in Davos it was now up to Nato’s senior commanders to work through the details of extra security requirements.

“I have no doubt we can do this quite fast. Certainly, I would hope for 2026, I hope even early in 2026,” he said.

Denmark says situation remains difficult

Trump’s ambition to wrest sovereignty over Greenland from fellow Nato member Denmark has threatened to blow apart the alliance that has underpinned Western security since the end of World War Two and reignite a trade war with Europe.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said no negotiations had been held with Nato regarding the sovereignty of Greenland, a semi-autonomous territory of Denmark.

“It is still a difficult and serious situation, but progress has also been made in the sense that we have now got things where they need to be. Namely that we can discuss how we promote common security in the Arctic region,” she said.

Speaking later ahead of the emergency summit of EU leaders, Frederiksen called for a “permanent presence of Nato in the Arctic region, including around Greenland.”

Kallas said “disagreements that allies have between them, like Europe and America, are just benefiting our adversaries who are looking and enjoying the view.”

Finnish President Alexander Stubb said he hoped allies could put together a plan to boost Arctic security by a Nato summit in Ankara in July.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer told Rutte on Thursday that the UK stood ready to play its full part in ensuring security in the Arctic, a spokesperson said.

After meeting with Rutte, Trump said there could be a deal that satisfies his desire for a “Golden Dome” missile-defence system and access to critical minerals while blocking what he says are Russia and China’s ambitions in the Arctic.

Rutte said minerals exploitation was not discussed in his meeting with Trump. Specific negotiations over the Arctic island would continue between the United States, Denmark and Greenland itself, he said.

The 1951 agreement established the US right to construct military bases in Greenland and move around freely in Greenlandic territory. This is still the case as long as Denmark and Greenland are informed of its actions. Washington has a base at Pituffik in northern Greenland.

“It is important to clarify that the US had 17 bases during the Cold War and much greater activity. So that is already possible now under the current agreement,” said Marc Jacobsen, a professor at the Royal Danish Defence College.

“I think there will be concrete discussions about Golden Dome, and I think there will be concrete discussions about Russia and China not being welcome in Greenland.”

Greenlanders, EU leaders wary

The president of the European Parliament said the European Union will likely resume work on a trade deal with the United States after Trump took back his tariff threats. The parliament decided this week to suspend work on the deal because of Trump’s threats.

However, diplomats told Reuters EU leaders will rethink US relations as the Greenland episode has badly shaken confidence in the transatlantic ties. Governments remain wary of another change of mind by Trump, who is increasingly seen as a bully whom Europe will have to stand up to, they said.

Residents in the Greenland capital, Nuuk, are also wary.

“It’s all very confusing,” said pensioner Jesper Muller.

“One hour we are, well, almost at war. Next hour everything is fine and beautiful, and I think it’s very hard to imagine that you can build anything on it.”