Photo Credit: Zulfugar Karimov
After multiple years and seemingly endless twists and turns, the long-awaited debut of a US-based TikTok is now here. According to an official announcement shared late Thursday (January 22nd), ‘TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC’ is now setting sail.
One day ahead of a deadline imposed by President Trump, the long-awaited US-based TikTok spinoff has landed. The officially-titled ‘TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC‘ has now been established, with a cast of prominent, US-based stakeholders and investors assuming control over the separated entity.
“TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC has been established in compliance with the Executive Order signed by President Trump on September 25, 2025, now enabling more than 200 million Americans and 7.5 million businesses to continue to discover, create, and thrive as part of TikTok’s vibrant global community and experience,” a newly-created page on TikTok’s domain declared on Thursday evening (January 22nd).
“The majority American owned Joint Venture will operate under defined safeguards that protect national security through comprehensive data protections, algorithm security, content moderation, and software assurances for U.S. users.”
President Trump officially heralded the development on Truth Social, who thanked President Xi for approving the deal. “I would also like to thank President Xi, of China, for working with us and, ultimately, approving the Deal,” Trump wrote. “He could have gone the other way, but didn’t, and is appreciated for his decision.”
The American TikTok joint venture will reportedly be helmed by CEO Adam Presser and Chief Security Officer Will Farrell, both of whom have been heavily involved in data and security details tied to the transition.
The announcement closely follows a number of agreements with ‘TikTok USA’ investors Oracle, Silver Lake, and MGX, with Susquehanna International Group also now surfacing as a partial owner. For months, however, the sale’s status and timing were shrouded in confusion – most recently because of mixed signals from the Chinese government.
But staffing shifts have been in motion for weeks now, with TikTok US CEO Shou Zi Chew having informed some American team members that they’ll remain employed by TikTok parent ByteDance post-sale.
These individuals will reportedly focus on TikTok USA products and operations (among them sponsorships) that also tie into the app’s global version. Unsurprisingly, given the national security concerns behind the forced-sale requirement, TikTok USA will reportedly employ all the domestic personnel tasked with handling user data.
In the bigger regulatory picture, TikTok and ByteDance are still facing scrutiny outside the States.
A Canadian court just recently put the kibosh on a government order calling for the shutdown of the app’s business operations. While said order targeted TikTok’s domestic offices and team as opposed to the platform’s availability, it definitely wasn’t (and isn’t) a positive for the company.
And in Europe, against the backdrop of amplified pressure from regulators, TikTok is tightening its age checks; over in Australia, the app and competing platforms must ensure that all users are age 16 or older.
Despite those and adjacent setbacks, it’s seemingly business as usual for TikTok in the music world, where it and iHeartMedia aggressively pushed Madison Beer’s new album ahead of a January 16th release.
Nevertheless, there are pressing questions about how the distinct TikTok USA entity will affect existing agreements (like with BMG) and forthcoming features; Universal Music head Lucian Grainge kicked off 2026 by reiterating the major’s AI collaborations with TikTok and others.
Also worth tracking: TikTok’s rumored pivot to a per-view compensation model for music. As things stand, every song-equipped clip pays the same royalties whether it has 10 plays or millions upon millions of views, but that’s about to change — at least according to well-placed DMN sources.
