News Desk
Washington/Abu Dhabi — TikTok has agreed to sell its U.S. operations to a consortium of investors including Oracle, Silver Lake, and Abu Dhabi’s sovereign AI fund MGX, in a landmark deal that blends Middle Eastern capital with American tech giants and carries political links to the Trump family. According to an internal memo, the agreement is expected to close on January 22, 2026, reshaping ownership of the popular social video platform amid mounting national security concerns in Washington. Under the terms, the new investor group will control 50 per cent of the U.S. venture, affiliates of existing ByteDance investors will hold 30.1 per cent, and ByteDance itself will retain a minority stake of 19.9 per cent.
Chief executive Shou Zi Chew confirmed that binding agreements have been signed, noting that the new entity will operate independently with authority over data protection, algorithm security, content moderation, and software assurance. A seven-member, majority-American board will oversee the venture, while Oracle will manage the local storage of U.S. user data. TikTok’s recommendation algorithm will be retrained exclusively on American data to ensure the feed remains free from outside manipulation.
The sale follows legislation passed by Congress last year requiring TikTok to divest its U.S. operations to address fears that Chinese-owned ByteDance was handing over American user data to Beijing. China has promised to “properly resolve” the issue, signalling it may not block the deal outright but will seek to shape its terms.
MGX’s role in the consortium highlights the UAE’s growing influence in global technology governance. Established as a sovereign AI investment vehicle, MGX has already positioned itself at the centre of major projects, including partnerships with OpenAI and Anthropic. Its involvement in TikTok also intersects with U.S. politics.
MGX has previously been linked to ventures associated with the Trump family, including providing $2 billion in funding to Binance through a cryptocurrency issued by Trump’s World Liberty Financial. Earlier this year, Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed met President Trump at the White House to announce a $1.4 trillion investment plan in the U.S., while MGX also joined Oracle and SoftBank in “Stargate,” Trump’s $500 billion AI infrastructure project.
Critics argue that MGX’s deep involvement in U.S. technology raises national security concerns, particularly given its overlap with Trump allies such as Oracle’s Larry Ellison and Silver Lake investors. Senator Elizabeth Warren has described the arrangement as a “backdoor deal,” warning that foreign sovereign capital tied to Trump-linked ventures could complicate oversight.
For TikTok’s millions of American users, the agreement ensures continuity of service while promising stronger safeguards around data and content integrity. For ByteDance, it represents a loss of majority control in the U.S. market but preserves a significant minority stake. And for geopolitics, the deal underscores how Middle Eastern capital, U.S. technology firms, and Chinese ownership are converging under regulatory pressure, with the Trump family’s business ecosystem woven into the outcome.
