ByteDance Ltd., a private company founded in Beijing in 2012, owns TikTok in every market outside the United States. US operations sit inside TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC, which closed on January 22, 2026, with non-Chinese investors holding 80.1% and ByteDance 19.9%. Reports valued the US business near $14 billion.
TikTok ownership at a glance
| Ownership type | Private, split across two entities since January 2026 |
|---|---|
| Parent company | ByteDance Ltd. globally; TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC in the US |
| Largest shareholders | ByteDance 19.9% of the US venture; Oracle, Silver Lake, MGX at 15% each |
| Latest valuation | US venture near $14 billion; ByteDance $550 billion, February 2026 |
| Last transaction | US joint venture closed January 22, 2026 |
| Founded | ByteDance 2012; TikTok launched internationally 2017 |
| Headquarters | Singapore and Los Angeles; US venture in Culver City, California |
| CEO | Shou Zi Chew globally; Adam Presser at the US venture |
Who owns TikTok today?
Ownership splits along a geographic line. ByteDance owns and runs the app in Europe, Southeast Asia and every market except the United States.
The American business moved into TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC on January 22, 2026. Reuters reported that American and global investors hold 80.1% of the venture, with ByteDance retaining 19.9%.
That figure was set by law. The 2024 divest-or-ban statute blocks US distribution of any app more than 20% owned by a foreign adversary controlled entity.
Oracle, Silver Lake and Abu Dhabi’s MGX each took 15%. Affiliates of existing ByteDance backers hold the remaining 30.1%. TechCrunch reported the US business was valued at roughly $14 billion, a figure US Vice President JD Vance also cited.
TikTok USDS Joint Venture ownership, January 2026
Who owns ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company?
ByteDance equity sits with three groups: global institutional investors at roughly 60%, employees at about 20%, and founders plus China-based investors at about 20%.
Zhang Yiming is the largest individual holder. Bloomberg credits him with 21%, citing TikTok’s May 2024 petition to a US court.
Susquehanna International Group, General Atlantic, KKR, SoftBank and Coatue are among the institutional backers. Most of that money is American or allied.
A Chinese state-linked entity holds about 1% of a domestic ByteDance subsidiary, an arrangement common among licensed Chinese platforms. It carries no stake in ByteDance Ltd. itself. The OpenAI ownership breakdown shows a similar pattern of concentrated insider control alongside heavy outside capital.
ByteDance implied valuation by transaction
Who controls TikTok in the United States?
Control and ownership diverge here. A seven-member board with an American majority governs the venture, and Adam Presser, previously TikTok’s head of operations and trust and safety, is CEO.
Shou Chew sits on that board while still leading TikTok globally. Other directors include Silver Lake co-CEO Egon Durban, Oracle executive Kenneth Glueck, Susquehanna’s Mark Dooley and TPG adviser Timothy Dattels.
ByteDance kept the recommendation algorithm and licensed it to the venture, which retrains a copy on American user data under Oracle’s oversight. Fortune, citing Bloomberg, reported the venture may pay ByteDance up to half of its US profits in licensing fees.
At ByteDance level, Zhang Yiming holds supervoting shares. He stepped down as CEO in May 2021, handing the role to co-founder Liang Rubo, and still holds the decisive vote.
What else does ByteDance own besides TikTok?
Douyin, the Chinese version of the short-video app, is ByteDance’s largest domestic product and runs on separate infrastructure.
The portfolio also includes Toutiao, Zhang Yiming’s first product, the Lark enterprise suite, video editor CapCut, cloud unit Volcano Engine and the Doubao AI model.
ByteDance bought Musical.ly for about $1 billion in 2017 and folded its users into TikTok in 2018, giving the app its first large American audience.
One US entity stayed behind. TT Commerce and Global Services LLC, which houses part of the American commerce staff, remains ByteDance owned.
Who are the biggest investors in TikTok’s US joint venture?
The cap table mixes cloud infrastructure, private equity, sovereign wealth and family offices. Oracle doubles as the security partner, hosting US data and reviewing the app’s code, extending the earlier Project Texas plan.
- Oracle Corporation, 15%
- Silver Lake, 15%
- MGX, the Abu Dhabi state-backed investment firm, 15%
- ByteDance Ltd., 19.9%
- Affiliates of existing ByteDance investors, 30.1%, including the Dell Family Office, Susquehanna affiliate Vastmere, Alpha Wave Partners and NJJ Capital
Michael Dell, Yuri and Julia Milner and DFO Management appear in the closing filings. For contrast, the shareholder structure behind Pinterest rests on a public-market float.
Is TikTok publicly traded?
No. Neither ByteDance nor the US joint venture has listed shares, and TikTok has no ticker symbol.
ByteDance shares trade on secondary markets instead. A February 2026 General Atlantic stake sale priced the company at $550 billion, up from $480 billion in November 2025.
Liang Rubo told an all-hands meeting in June 2026 that a listing is not on the table at this time, according to Nikkei Asia. Oracle trades on the NYSE under ORCL. Other private AI firms face the same liquidity question, as the 2026 AI IPO pipeline shows.
FAQ
Who founded TikTok?
Zhang Yiming founded ByteDance in Beijing in 2012 and launched Douyin in China in 2016, followed by TikTok internationally in 2017. Co-founder Liang Rubo became ByteDance CEO in May 2021.
Does the Chinese government own TikTok?
No. The Chinese government holds no equity in ByteDance Ltd. A state-linked entity took roughly 1% of a ByteDance domestic subsidiary in 2021, a licensing requirement for Chinese information platforms.
Does Oracle own TikTok?
Oracle owns 15% of TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC, which runs the US app. It does not own TikTok globally, though it hosts American user data and oversees the app’s code.
How much of TikTok does ByteDance still own?
ByteDance owns 100% of TikTok outside the United States and 19.9% of the US joint venture. It also retains ownership of the recommendation algorithm and licenses it to the American entity.
Who is the CEO of TikTok?
Shou Zi Chew has led TikTok globally since 2021. Adam Presser became CEO of TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC in January 2026, with Chew serving on that venture’s board as a director.
