As U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on the 25th (local time) to acquire the U.S. business rights of the Chinese video platform TikTok, U.S. business media including CNBC reported that Oracle, Silver Lake, and MGX will each hold 15% equity in TikTok's new U.S. entity (TikTok USA).
According to sources, the three corporations will hold a total of 45% equity in "TikTok USA." However, because negotiations are ongoing, the size of the equity could change, they said. In accordance with the "TikTok ban law," which limits the parent company ByteDance to holding less than 20% equity, ByteDance will hold 19.9%, and the remaining 35% will be held by ByteDance investors and new investors.
The federal government will neither hold equity in the operation of TikTok USA nor acquire a so-called "golden share" that would allow it to exercise veto power regardless of stock ownership. The new corporation will also constitute a majority of its board with American directors, Oracle will oversee the app's security and operations, and it will continue to provide cloud computing services to TikTok USA. U.S. Vice President JD Vance said TikTok USA's corporate value in this transaction was assessed at $14 billion (about 20 trillion won).
Oracle is a U.S. software and cloud company that was designated as a "Security Partner" when the sale of TikTok's U.S. entity was first pursued in 2020, and has been responsible for storing and managing U.S. TikTok user data. Silver Lake is a global tech-focused private equity firm that has participated as an investor since discussions on a 2020 sale of TikTok's U.S. operations. MGX is a new investment firm jointly founded in 2024 by Abu Dhabi's sovereign wealth funds and United Arab Emirates (UAE) major tech company G42.
MGX is led by Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed Al Nahyan, a power broker in the UAE who is the Abu Dhabi ruler's brother and the UAE national security adviser, and it is well known for investments including in OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT. MGX has been emerging as an investor in major transactions tied to the United States' strategic interests since President Trump took office. Existing backers of ByteDance, including investment firms General Atlantic, Susquehanna, and Sequoia, are also expected to invest equity in the new TikTok USA.
On the 21st, President Trump said that conservative media tycoon Rupert Murdoch and his son Lachlan Murdoch, Oracle Chairman Larry Ellison, and Dell Technologies Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Michael Dell could be involved in this TikTok transaction.