On December 18, local time, TikTok CEO Zhou Shouzi issued an internal letter updating TikTok’s U.S. business progress. An internal letter stated that ByteDance and TikTok have signed agreements with three investors and will establish a new TikTok US joint venture.

The new joint venture, called TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC, will be responsible for data protection, algorithm security, content review and software assurance in the United States. TikTok’s other entities in the United States, which are wholly owned by ByteDance, will continue to be responsible for business activities such as e-commerce, advertising, and market operations, as well as the global interconnection of TikTok products. It is reported that,Matters related to the agreement will be completed no later than January 22, 2026.This is consistent with TikTok’s US plan previously exposed by domestic media.


The picture comes from previous media reports.

According to previous media reports, TikTok’s future operations in the United States will mainly involve two entities. The "ByteDance TikTok US Company" on the left side of the picture above will be responsible for commercial activities such as e-commerce, brand advertising, and global interconnection. This entity is 100% owned by ByteDance.

The TikTok US Data Security Joint Venture on the right side of the picture above is the TikTok US Data Security Joint Venture Co., Ltd. mentioned in this internal letter. It will be responsible for U.S. data and content security, software assurance, etc. to comply with U.S. legal requirements.

The internal letter also mentioned that the new joint venture will be responsible for algorithm security. According to previous media reports,ByteDance will continue to own the intellectual property rights of TikTok algorithms, authorize the new joint venture to use them, and charge licensing fees to the latter.

It is understood that commercial activities such as e-commerce, advertising, and market operations are TikTok’s main sources of revenue, and will still be responsible for entities such as TikTok US, which is wholly owned by ByteDance. The data, content security and other businesses that the new joint venture is responsible for are non-profit in nature and have high operating costs. In order to ensure the operation of the joint venture, there will be commercially reasonable income sharing arrangements between the above entities.

In addition to the business distribution between the two companies, the board seats and equity structure of TikTok US Data Security Joint Venture Co., Ltd. are also the same as previously disclosed.

TikTok’s internal letter shows that ByteDance and TikTok have signed agreements with three investors, including Oracle, Silver Lake and MGX. The above-mentioned new investors hold a total of 45% of the shares in the new joint venture; some existing investors of ByteDance and their related parties hold 30.1% of the shares, and ByteDance will retain 19.9% ​​of the shares. It is understood that Bytedance is still the largest single shareholder of the new joint venture.

In addition, the new joint venture will be majority-owned by U.S. investors and governed by a new seven-member board of directors.

In fact, TikTok's US plan is very similar to Apple's "Guizhou on the Cloud" operation method in China. However, Apple has not taken a stake in "Cloud App (Guizhou) Technology Co., Ltd.", the business entity of "Cloud Guizhou". In comparison, ByteDance still occupies an important seat in new joint ventures in the United States.

TikTok’s internal letter shows that matters related to the US agreement will be completed no later than January 22, 2026. The agreement and comprehensive security measures will allow more than 170 million Americans to continue to explore, create and communicate on the platform and enjoy the same experience as today; advertisers will also continue to connect with global audiences without any impact.