# Who Owns TikTok Now? ByteDance, Oracle and the US Joint Venture

> Who owns TikTok in 2026? ByteDance owns TikTok worldwide, while a US joint venture led by Oracle, Silver Lake and MGX runs TikTok in America. Who bought it and where it's based.

Canonical: https://scheduleforyou.com/blog/who-owns-tiktok
Last updated: 2026-10-28

Category: TikTok. 

TikTok is owned by **ByteDance**, the Beijing-founded tech company, everywhere except the United States. In the US, TikTok has been run since **22 January 2026** by **TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC**, a new company whose managing investors are **Oracle, Silver Lake and MGX** (15% each). ByteDance keeps a **19.9%** stake in the US business, and the rest is held by other investors, many of them existing ByteDance shareholders.

These details come from the deal announcement and reporting at the time of writing. Ownership has been in the news for years, so check recent coverage if you need the latest.

## TikTok ownership at a glance

| | Owner |
| --- | --- |
| TikTok worldwide (outside the US) | ByteDance |
| TikTok in the US | TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC |
| Douyin (China's version of TikTok) | ByteDance |
| CapCut, Lemon8 | ByteDance |

## Who owns TikTok in the US?

The US joint venture was set up to meet a 2024 US law that required ByteDance to sell TikTok's American business or face a ban. Its ownership, as announced:

| Investor | Stake |
| --- | --- |
| Oracle | 15% |
| Silver Lake | 15% |
| MGX (Abu Dhabi) | 15% |
| ByteDance | 19.9% |
| Other investors, including affiliates of existing ByteDance investors | About 35% |

Other named investors include the Dell family office, Alpha Wave Partners, an affiliate of General Atlantic and Xavier Niel's NJJ Capital. Reporting describes the venture as roughly 80% owned by non-Chinese investors, with a board where Americans hold most of the seats. **Adam Presser** is the joint venture's CEO.

Oracle is the security partner: US user data is stored in Oracle's cloud, and the recommendation algorithm is being retrained on US data and overseen by the joint venture. Oracle's own filings value its stake at a little over $2 billion, and reports put the US business at around $14 billion.

## Who bought TikTok?

No single company bought TikTok. The US business was effectively sold to the joint venture's investor group, led by Oracle, Silver Lake and MGX, in a deal approved by the US government in 2025 and closed in January 2026. ByteDance still owns TikTok in every other country.

Earlier, in 2017, ByteDance itself was the buyer: it bought the lip-sync app Musical.ly for close to $1 billion and merged it into TikTok in 2018. Our guide on [when TikTok came out](https://scheduleforyou.com/blog/when-did-tiktok-come-out) covers that history.

## Who owns ByteDance?

ByteDance was founded in 2012 by **Zhang Yiming**, who still holds a large stake. Most of the company is owned by global investors, including US firms, plus employees. It's a private company, so it isn't listed on a stock exchange, and you can't buy TikTok or ByteDance shares directly.

## Where is TikTok's headquarters?

TikTok doesn't have one single headquarters. Its main offices are in **Los Angeles** (Culver City) and **Singapore**, with large teams in London, Dublin and New York. ByteDance is headquartered in **Beijing**, with major offices around the world. The US joint venture runs American operations from the US.

## What changed for TikTok users and creators?

For most people in the US, not much you'd notice day to day. The app, your account, followers and videos stayed the same. The changes are behind the scenes: where data is stored, who audits the algorithm and who sits on the board. A legal challenge to the government's approval of the deal was filed in March 2026, seeking a renegotiated deal rather than a ban, and was still pending at the time of writing.

If you rely on TikTok for business, the ownership saga is a reminder not to build on one platform. Schedule For You can publish the same video to [TikTok](https://scheduleforyou.com/tiktok), Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts from one queue, so your audience is spread across more than one app.

## Frequently asked questions

### Is TikTok owned by China?
TikTok outside the US is owned by ByteDance, a company founded in China. TikTok in the US is owned by a joint venture in which ByteDance holds less than 20% and the managing investors are Oracle, Silver Lake and MGX.

### Does Elon Musk or Larry Ellison own TikTok?
Elon Musk doesn't. Larry Ellison co-founded Oracle, which owns 15% of the US joint venture, so he's linked to it through Oracle, but he doesn't own TikTok personally.

### Who is the CEO of TikTok?
Shou Zi Chew is CEO of TikTok globally. Adam Presser is CEO of the US joint venture.

### Can I buy TikTok stock?
No. Neither TikTok, ByteDance nor the US joint venture is publicly traded. You can buy shares in Oracle, which owns part of TikTok's US business.

### Is TikTok still getting banned?
No ban is in effect in the US at the time of writing. See [is TikTok getting banned](https://scheduleforyou.com/blog/is-tiktok-getting-banned) for the full story.

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