President Donald Trump on Tuesday announced an agreement between the U.S. and China to keep TikTok operating in the United States, with three sources familiar with the matter saying the deal was similar to one discussed earlier this year.
The U.S. and China have reached a critical agreement to secure TikTok’s operations in the U.S. Under the deal, within the next 90 days, the app’s U.S. business will be separated from China-based parent company ByteDance and transferred under the control of American investors. pic.twitter.com/kH8XJRvuMd
— Swipeline (@Swipeline_Media) September 17, 2025
The agreement requires TikTok’s American assets to be transferred to U.S. owners from China’s ByteDance, potentially resolving a saga that has lingered for nearly a year.
A deal for the popular social media app, which counts 170 million U.S. users, would represent a breakthrough in monthslong talks between the two biggest economies as they seek to defuse a wide-ranging trade war that has unnerved global markets.
President Trump secured a TikTok deal that prioritizes America’s national security interests and recognizes the economic reality of TikTok operating in the United States.
📺: @FoxBusiness pic.twitter.com/roZwwB5976
— United States Trade Representative (@USTradeRep) September 16, 2025
“We have a deal on TikTok. … We have a group of very big companies that want to buy it,” Trump said at a White House briefing, without providing further details. The announcement came a day before Wednesday’s deadline to sell or shut down the short video app.
Later in the day the White House extended that deadline until Dec. 16. The White House declined to provide any further details on the agreement with China.
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The delay will give ByteDance another 90 days to finalize an agreement to transfer TikTok’s American assets to U.S. owners, suggesting much work needs to be done to close the complex transaction.
The U.S. entity will have an American-dominated board, the Wall Street Journal reported, with one member designated by the U.S. government. The idea takes a page from a recent national security agreement inked by the Trump administration that allowed Nippon Steel to buy U.S. Steel after allowing the U.S. to name a board member, in addition to having a so-called golden share.
Any agreement may require approval by the Republican-controlled Congress, which passed a law in 2024 during the Biden Administration that required TikTok’s divestiture due to fears that its U.S. user data could be accessed by the Chinese government, allowing Beijing to spy on Americans or conduct influence operations through the app. The basics of the new deal, also similar to April, include that ByteDance will keep the single largest ownership stake at 19.9%, just under a 20% threshold, two of the sources said.
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The consortium that would hold 80% includes ByteDance’s current shareholders Susquehanna International Group (SIG), General Atlantic, and KKR, as well as new investors such as Andreessen Horowitz. Oracle is also likely to take a stake, and the Wall Street Journal reported that Silver Lake would invest as well.
While the broad terms are expected to remain the same, the sources did say they do not know what the final deal would exactly look like, given the potential for last-minute changes.
Story by Reuters with additional input by GVS