“The US operations of TikTok have officially changed hands, with a consortium led by Silver Lake, Oracle and MGX (Abu Dhabi’s state investment firm) now controlling 45 percent of the social video platform. Under the terms of the deal which were released last month, TikTok’s US business will now be owned by a joint venture”, — write: www.hollywoodreporter.com
Under the terms of the deal which were released last month, TikTok’s US business will now be owned by a joint venture company called TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC. Silver Lake, Oracle and MGX will own 45 percent, 5 percent will be held by other new investors, and 30.1 percent will be “held by affiliates of certain existing investors of ByteDance; and 19.9 percent will be retained by ByteDance.”
On Thursday, the company revealed the investors in the JV, as well as its board members. Adam Presser, a TikTok veteran and former WarnerMedia executive, will be CEO, while Will Farrell, a veteran of TikTok and Booz Allen Hamilton, will be chief security officer, overseeing data privacy and security.
The board of the JV will include TikTok CEO Shou Chew, Silver Lake co-CEO Egon Durban, Susquehanna International Group managing director Mark Dooley, TPG senior advisor Timothy Dattels, DXC CEO Raul Fernandez, Oracle executive VP Kenneth Glueck and MGC Chief Strategy and Safety Officer David Scott.
The company also listed its full consortium of investors.
Notably, despite chatter last fall, neither Fox Corp. nor the Murdoch family is listed.
Instead, the list of investors includes Michael Dell’s family office, Vastmere Strategic Investments, LLC, an affiliate of Susquehanna International Group; Alpha Wave Partners; Revolution; Merritt Way, LLC controlled and managed by partners of Dragoneer; Via Nova, an affiliate of General Atlantic; Virgo LI, Inc., investment arm of a foundation established by Yuri and Julia Milner in support of science; and NJJ Capital, the family office of Xavier Niel, a French entrepreneur and pioneer in telecommunications.
The deal has been a long time coming, with TikTok facing potential banishment from the US last year due to a bipartisan bill signed by President Joe Biden. President Donald Trump, however, directed the DOJ to delay enforcement until a buyer could be found, and the Chinese government could be persuaded to approve a deal.
Data security and American oversight were key to the deal, and the JV made it clear that US companies will manage that, although it will also mean possible changes to the app experience.
The company “will retrain, test, and update the content recommendation algorithm on US user data,” TikTok says. “The content recommendation algorithm will be secured in Oracle’s US cloud environment.”
Still, with the deal closed, it means that TikTok’s future in the US is secured.