The saga over TikTok’s future in the United States took a sharp turn Thursday night after a report that a consortium of American companies is in talks to buy a majority share of the app. Oracle, Silver Lake and Andreessen Horowitz are teaming with TikTok in a structure which would see an entity based in the U.S. own 80% of the video app, while its shareholders in China and seed investors would get stakes in the remainder, according to persons familiar with the negotiations.
The proposed structure would seek to address national security concerns about the Chinese-owned app without kicking it out of the country for its large and loyal U.S. customer base. It is the strongest signal yet that a sale — or something very close to it — may be at hand, after years of legal threats, policy brinkmanship and stop-and-start negotiations.
Who are the reported buyers behind the TikTok deal?
Oracle, the enterprise software and cloud giant, has lingered around TikTok since the initial divestment push years ago. It is already home to American TikTok data as part of “Project Texas,” the security measure that siloed American user information. That combination of existing footprint, plus Oracle’s political and regulatory familiarity, makes it a practical front-runner for an operational role.
As one of the heavyweights in technology-focused private equity, Silver Lake has bet broadly across the stack of internet infrastructure and consumer platform. Its involvement suggests a focus on governance, cash and deal engineering — exactly what taking a complex carve-out from a global parent calls for.
Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), one of the most influential West Coast venture firms, provides consumer-platform expertise and policy reach. The firm has been outspoken on U.S. technology competitiveness, and a stake in TikTok would mark an unusual late-stage wager on the social media category beyond its usual early-stage niche.
What’s said to be in the framework of the TikTok deal
The Journal’s report suggests there is an 80/20 split, with the U.S. side calling all the shots. In a deal like this, control does not mean equity; it means also the governance mechanics — board composition, veto rights, data access rules and technical separation. If completed, expect the deal to hardwire U.S.-based data storage, auditing and security monitoring.
An important open issue is the recommendation algorithm. China included some content-sorting algorithms on its export-control list last year, so any transfer or licensing can potentially require government sign-off. Even with majority U.S. ownership, full rights to the core algorithm might require customized licensing or cooperation with ByteDance engineers to continue working on it.
Politically, the move follows public statements from U.S. officials favoring divestment over a single bald ban. Yet when President Donald Trump posted on social media recently that he had come to a deal to save a platform loved by young people, few policy watchers doubted the reference was to TikTok. It isn’t a formal announcement, but this kind of signaling frequently comes before final negotiations.
What approvals are still pending for the TikTok sale
Any deal is expected to come under the purview of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (known as CFIUS), which has for years been investigating TikTok’s ownership. The Justice Department and the Treasury Department usually lead that process, supported by the Commerce Department on export-control matters.
On the other side of the Pacific, China’s Ministry of Commerce and cybersecurity regulators would have a say, especially if the deal involves source code, training data or model weights. Analysts at CSIS and the Atlantic Council have also observed that Beijing has recently tightened its grip on outbound tech assets, particularly in fields involving sensitive data and artificial intelligence.
Antitrust risk also seems limited, since the buyer group does not own a competing short‑video platform of similar size. However, the Federal Trade Commission might investigate what it means for data practices and advertising markets given TikTok’s U.S. footprint in social commerce purchases and creator monetization.
Why the potential TikTok sale matters so much in the U.S.
TikTok has more than 150 million U.S. users, a statistic its chief executive used in congressional testimony. Insider Intelligence estimates that advertisers use the platform to spend billions each year in the United States, and creators and small businesses have come to depend on it for discovery and sales. It would also cause a ripple effect through advertising budgets, music promotion and retail funnels.
Investors too have an incentive to move fast. ByteDance is among the world’s most valuable private technology companies, and a resolution could clarify its road to wider capital markets activity. Alternatively, protracted limbo also threatens to drive talent away, product stagnation and more regulatory overflow.
What to watch next as the TikTok deal talks progress
Look for clear language on algorithm rights, data residency, audit access and board control — those are the elements that will tell Washington whether the structure appears to be real divestment or just lipstick on a pig. Also watch for Beijing’s response; when it comes to strategic technology, Chinese approval is not a rubber stamp.
This is still a tentative deal, until there are regulatory sign-offs and the ink is dry. But with a16z and Oracle, as well as Silver Lake, said to be in the mix, the market now has at least one plausibly interested buyer group and an ownership split that might pass muster on both sides — if negotiators can jujitsu their way through technology transfer and national security protections.