Who are the owners of the new TikTok US entity?
Private equity firms, tech giants and existing ByteDance backers make up the investor group behind the newly created US venture
The deal, the culmination of years of legal and political uncertainty, is part of the effort to comply with a 2024 US law that aimed to push ByteDance to divest TikTok to address national security concerns over the app’s links to Beijing. Without a divestment, the app would have faced a nationwide ban.
The new arrangement sees ByteDance retaining 19.9 per cent of the venture, with non-Chinese investors owning about 80 per cent.
The new venture will license ByteDance’s powerful recommendation algorithm – described as the secret sauce to the app’s success – and moderate content on the app.
Who are the top investors?
The three “managing investors” are Silver Lake, Oracle and Abu Dhabi’s MGX. Each will hold 15 per cent of the hugely successful app.
Silver Lake is a private equity firm headquartered in Menlo Park, California, and New York City. Co-CEO Egon Durban will serve as one of the seven members of the venture’s majority-American board of directors.