miss.cabul/Shutterstock TikTok, the social video app, has two different owners. There is the main company, ByteDance, which owns TikTok and its Chinese equivalent, Douyin. In 2025, a third arm was created, with US control transferred to a joint venture, TikTok USDS JV. Who Really Owns TikTok is an interesting rabbit hole to explore. If you’ve only seen it on the surface, the reasoning behind the company’s current situation is fascinating. The corporate-level mess comes mostly from the U.S. government, but also from other companies trying to get their way on the most popular social media app of all time. In 2021, TikTok overtook Google as the most visited website, and despite some major optical issues with the app’s content, it remains extremely strong. However, the video app also has a history, which explains why three US administrations have attempted to narrow its reach, pushing it to the brink of a total ban in the United States. Now divided into three different entities, TikTok is quite a tangled cable to untangle. Bans, purchases and censorship Dm3d/Getty Images In 2025, after a near-unanimous agreement by Congress in 2024 that TikTok posed a risk to the United States and should be banned, the app was briefly blocked. The US government, backed by the second Trump administration, blocked the app from downloading on Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android before it was available again. Those who owned the app could still access it, but it was unclear if or when the app would completely break. When TikTok’s service was restored in the United States, a plan was put in place to sell the company’s US branch to US-based stakeholders. This company became the TikTok USDS JV and controls the algorithm, data and business operations in the United States. Warnings from some users in the United States about what was to come also came to fruition in some regions. Users often report not seeing news or information about world events, or even U.S.-centric events, like protests and the ongoing war in Iran. This is partly due to the new owners of TikTok USDS JV. These are Bytedance (19.9%), Oracle (15%), MGX Fund Management Limited (15%), and Silver Lake (15%), with a central focus on Oracle’s involvement. Larry Ellison, Oracle’s president and CTO, worked to buy as much U.S. data and media as possible. In addition to getting involved in buying TikTok, Ellison has spent billions acquiring Warner Bros., with some reports indicating he is also targeting news outlet CNN to take control of its production. Breaking down the main owners of TikTok US Jay Hirano/Shutterstock Although there is a lot of information about ByteDance, the other three are not as familiar to people. Firstly, MGX Fund Management Limited is an Abu Dhabi government fund focused on investments in artificial intelligence (AI). It is led by Tahnoon Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Khaldoon Khalifa Al Mubarak and Ahmed Yahia Al Idrissi, supported by the Abu Dhabi government. Silver Lake is another private equity firm, but it is based in the United States. It controls massive investments in several technology companies, including Unity, Dell and payment service Klarna. Most recently, it was one of the companies involved in the purchase of Electronic Arts (EA). Alongside Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner’s firm Affinity Partners and the Saudi sovereign wealth fund, he plans to participate in the buyout if it is approved by the US government. Finally, Oracle, which primarily provides sales software as a service (SaaS), has been incredibly busy in recent years. Once one of those companies that no one really knew existed, it became infamous following the recent Warner Bros. takeover. and claims that technical director Larry Ellison wants to dominate the media space for his own purposes. It recently laid off 30,000 of its staff members via email. Oracle is also heavily invested in AI and has owned the Java programming language since 2010. Post navigation Apple App Store subscriptions have gotten cheaper, but there’s a catch
miss.cabul/Shutterstock TikTok, the social video app, has two different owners. There is the main company, ByteDance, which owns TikTok and its Chinese equivalent, Douyin. In 2025, a third arm was created, with US control transferred to a joint venture, TikTok USDS JV. Who Really Owns TikTok is an interesting rabbit hole to explore. If you’ve only seen it on the surface, the reasoning behind the company’s current situation is fascinating. The corporate-level mess comes mostly from the U.S. government, but also from other companies trying to get their way on the most popular social media app of all time. In 2021, TikTok overtook Google as the most visited website, and despite some major optical issues with the app’s content, it remains extremely strong. However, the video app also has a history, which explains why three US administrations have attempted to narrow its reach, pushing it to the brink of a total ban in the United States. Now divided into three different entities, TikTok is quite a tangled cable to untangle. Bans, purchases and censorship Dm3d/Getty Images In 2025, after a near-unanimous agreement by Congress in 2024 that TikTok posed a risk to the United States and should be banned, the app was briefly blocked. The US government, backed by the second Trump administration, blocked the app from downloading on Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android before it was available again. Those who owned the app could still access it, but it was unclear if or when the app would completely break. When TikTok’s service was restored in the United States, a plan was put in place to sell the company’s US branch to US-based stakeholders. This company became the TikTok USDS JV and controls the algorithm, data and business operations in the United States. Warnings from some users in the United States about what was to come also came to fruition in some regions. Users often report not seeing news or information about world events, or even U.S.-centric events, like protests and the ongoing war in Iran. This is partly due to the new owners of TikTok USDS JV. These are Bytedance (19.9%), Oracle (15%), MGX Fund Management Limited (15%), and Silver Lake (15%), with a central focus on Oracle’s involvement. Larry Ellison, Oracle’s president and CTO, worked to buy as much U.S. data and media as possible. In addition to getting involved in buying TikTok, Ellison has spent billions acquiring Warner Bros., with some reports indicating he is also targeting news outlet CNN to take control of its production. Breaking down the main owners of TikTok US Jay Hirano/Shutterstock Although there is a lot of information about ByteDance, the other three are not as familiar to people. Firstly, MGX Fund Management Limited is an Abu Dhabi government fund focused on investments in artificial intelligence (AI). It is led by Tahnoon Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Khaldoon Khalifa Al Mubarak and Ahmed Yahia Al Idrissi, supported by the Abu Dhabi government. Silver Lake is another private equity firm, but it is based in the United States. It controls massive investments in several technology companies, including Unity, Dell and payment service Klarna. Most recently, it was one of the companies involved in the purchase of Electronic Arts (EA). Alongside Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner’s firm Affinity Partners and the Saudi sovereign wealth fund, he plans to participate in the buyout if it is approved by the US government. Finally, Oracle, which primarily provides sales software as a service (SaaS), has been incredibly busy in recent years. Once one of those companies that no one really knew existed, it became infamous following the recent Warner Bros. takeover. and claims that technical director Larry Ellison wants to dominate the media space for his own purposes. It recently laid off 30,000 of its staff members via email. Oracle is also heavily invested in AI and has owned the Java programming language since 2010.
