ByteDance signs deal to sell over 80 per cent of TikTok’s US assets to avoid ban

TikTok’s Chinese owner, ByteDance, signed binding agreements with three ​major investors to sell just over 80% of the company’s U.S. assets to American and global investors to ‌avoid a U.S. government ban, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew told employees on Thursday.

The deal is a major step toward resolving years of uncertainty about the short video app’s future in the ‍United States since August 2020, when then President Donald Trump first tried unsuccessfully to ban the app that is now used regularly by more ⁠than 170 million Americans.