TikTok's U.S. Joint Venture Closes; Shou Zi Chew Remains Global CEO and Joins Its Board
On January 22, TikTok formally closed the deal to spin off its U.S. business, and the newly created TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC began operating, bringing the years-long 'divest-or-ban' saga to an end. TikTok's global chief executive, Shou Zi Chew, remains in his role and takes a seat on the joint venture's seven-member board.
Under the deal, Oracle, Silver Lake and Abu Dhabi-based MGX each hold 15 percent of the venture, affiliates of ByteDance's existing investors hold a combined 30.1 percent, and ByteDance retains 19.9 percent. The transaction values TikTok's U.S. business at about $14 billion; the platform has roughly 170 million American users.
The new company oversees U.S. data protection, algorithm security, content moderation and software assurance. Oracle serves as the trusted security partner, U.S. user data is stored on Oracle's cloud infrastructure, and the recommendation algorithm will be retrained on U.S. data. According to public reporting, Adam Presser, formerly TikTok's head of operations and trust and safety, serves as the joint venture's chief executive.
Chew became TikTok's CEO in 2021 and testified repeatedly before the U.S. Congress, becoming the most prominent Chinese executive in the controversy. He continues to lead TikTok's global business. (GSM, based on public reporting)
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Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：TikTok全球首席执行官周受资（2023年1月出席活动时摄）。图片来源：Wikimedia Commons（CC BY 4.0，Lukasz Kobus 摄）。Photo: TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew in January 2023. Source: Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0), photo by Lukasz Kobus.
