TikTok may have avoided the guillotine for now. The platform, boasting 2 billion users worldwide, will remain online in the United States after its Chinese parent, ByteDance, agreed to hand control of the app’s U.S. business to an American-led group of investors, Axios reported on Thursday night. The deal is designed to defuse Washington’s long-running national security concerns while stopping short of a full break-up. Under the proposed structure, ByteDance would reduce its ownership to just under 20% ...

Core Points - TikTok has reached a deal with investors to form a new joint venture for its US operations, following a law that required its owner, ByteDance, to divest or face a ban due to being classified as a "foreign adversary-controlled" company [1][3] - The new joint venture will operate independently in areas such as US data protection and content recommendation algorithm training, while still being connected to TikTok's global business lines like e-commerce and advertising [2] - The deal comes after a lengthy legal battle, where TikTok argued that the divest-or-ban law violated the First Amendment, but the Supreme Court upheld the law [3] Financial Aspects - The sale of TikTok's US operations is valued at around $14 billion, as approved by an executive order signed by President Donald Trump [4] - The buyer group is expected to include "four or five world-class investors," with Oracle and Larry Ellison mentioned as part of the deal [4]