The deal comes more than a year after Congress passed a law that forced its owner ByteDance to divest its US operations or face a ban.

TikTok has signed agreements with investors to establish a new U.S. joint venture, a move CEO Shou Chew said advances the company toward resolving a yearslong battle over its U.S. operations.

Just before the event's red carpet kickoff at the Hollywood Palladium, news broke that the U.S. deal for TikTok is officially happening.

Going forward, nearly half of the new entity, TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC, will be controlled by investors including Oracle, Silver Lake and MGX. Current ByteDance investor affiliates will own around 30 percent, and ByteDance itself will control just under 20 percent.

Social media personality and food critic Keith Lee took home the highest honor of the 2025 TikTok Awards after he was named Creator of the Year at the inaugural ceremony. Lee, a popular food reviewer who highlights small businesses, was visibly choked up in his acceptance speech after being handed the award by presenter Paris Hilton.

A new U.S.-based joint venture would keep TikTok online while handing oversight of its algorithm and data security to some of America’s wealthiest investors.

In a memo to staff reviewed by Reuters, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew confirmed that all US data “will be stored in a trusted and secure cloud environment in the United States run by Oracle,” with Oracle ultimately responsible for safeguarding US data.

The key to the app's success - its algorithm - is to be retrained on US data. Will that make US TikTok blander?

The inaugural 2025 TikTok Awards will honor a variety of content creators, including beauty influencers, film buffs, comedians and filmmakers. The ceremony's theme is "New Era. New Icons." The TikTok Awards will be headlined by singer-songwriter Ciara,