TikTok’s New American Chapter: The Billionaire Coalition Behind the Social Media Giant’s U.S. Future
President Trump’s recent executive order has secured TikTok’s future in the United States, transforming a potential ban into a major business deal involving some of America’s wealthiest investors. The social media platform, which faced extinction in the U.S. following a bipartisan law requiring divestment from Chinese ownership, will now be majority-owned by American investors. “It’s run by American investors and American companies, great ones, great investors,” Trump declared from the Oval Office after signing the order, emphasizing that with American ownership, there will be fewer data and privacy concerns because the app will be operated by “people that love the country.” The deal represents a significant shift in TikTok’s governance while maintaining its presence for the millions of Americans who use the platform daily.
At the center of this transformation is Larry Ellison, the cofounder of Oracle and the world’s second richest person, worth an estimated $352 billion. Oracle is expected to take a significant stake (around 15%) in TikTok and serve as its “security provider,” a role that aligns with both Ellison’s business interests and his relationship with Trump. The arrangement benefits Oracle, which relies heavily on government contracts and has been managing TikTok’s U.S. data infrastructure—a relationship valued at approximately 15% of ByteDance’s business. For Trump, having a friendly billionaire overseeing a major social media platform offers obvious advantages. Interestingly, Trump himself owns between $32,000 and $130,000 in Oracle shares, making him a small, indirect owner of the new TikTok. Ellison’s involvement isn’t surprising given his history of expanding Oracle’s reach across technology and media markets, including investments in Paramount and a stake in X (formerly Twitter).
The ownership structure of the new U.S. TikTok reveals a complex web of relationships among American billionaires and investment firms. Software giant Oracle, private equity firm Silver Lake, and Abu Dhabi-based MGX (an AI-focused investment firm) are expected to collectively own around 45% of the platform. ByteDance, TikTok’s Chinese parent company, will retain a 19.9% ownership stake, while existing ByteDance shareholders (including KKR, Sequoia, and Susquehanna) and new investors will take the remaining 35%. This arrangement values TikTok’s U.S. operations at approximately $14 billion—notably less than its estimated $22 billion in 2024 revenue. The deal excludes TikTok’s proprietary algorithm, which remains with ByteDance, raising questions about how the app will maintain its addictive user experience without this core technology.
The involvement of Abu Dhabi-based MGX adds an international dimension to this ostensibly American takeover. MGX, backed by the United Arab Emirates’ sovereign wealth fund, has prior connections to Trump through its $2 billion investment in crypto exchange Binance using USD1, the stablecoin created by Trump’s World Liberty Financial. This transaction helped legitimize the president’s cryptocurrency venture while allowing him to generate interest on MGX deposits. MGX also recently partnered with Silver Lake to acquire a majority stake in Intel’s Altera unit, demonstrating the increasingly interconnected nature of these investment relationships. These international connections complicate the narrative of TikTok becoming purely “American-owned” and raise questions about the global influence that will shape the platform moving forward.
The billionaire coalition behind the new TikTok extends beyond Ellison to include figures with varying relationships to Trump and to each other. Michael Dell ($138.7 billion), whose company provides hardware and software for Oracle’s cloud applications, has a decades-long partnership with Ellison. Jeff Yass ($65.7 billion), the largest individual shareholder in Susquehanna and a ByteDance investor, transitioned from being a “Never Trumper” to a Trump supporter around the time Congress began discussing forcing ByteDance to divest TikTok. Rupert Murdoch ($23.8 billion), whose News Corp is reportedly joining the ownership group, raises questions about whether Fox News might gain preferred distribution status on TikTok. Other notable investors include KKR cofounders Henry Kravis ($16 billion) and George Roberts ($17.4 billion), Oracle’s executive vice chair Safra Catz ($3.3 billion), Silver Lake’s managing partners Egon Durban, Greg Mondre, and Kenneth Hao ($2.3 billion each), and possibly venture capitalist Marc Andreessen ($2 billion), who has become one of Trump’s close advisors on technology policy.
This reshaping of TikTok’s ownership raises profound questions about the platform’s future direction and independence. While the deal allows TikTok to continue operating in the United States, it places control in the hands of investors with close ties to the president and to each other. The involvement of Oracle, with its deep connections to government intelligence agencies—the CIA was its first customer in 1977—creates new privacy considerations even as it addresses concerns about Chinese government access. The complex ownership structure, involving both American billionaires and international investment firms, suggests that TikTok’s governance will be influenced by a web of financial interests rather than by independent leadership. As this new chapter unfolds, TikTok users and regulators alike will be watching to see whether the platform maintains its appeal and independence, or whether it becomes shaped by the political and business interests of its powerful new owners.
