TikTok signs deal to sell US unit to American investor-led venture

TikTok’s Chinese owner, ByteDance, signed binding agreements with three major investors to sell just over 80% of the company’s US assets to American and global investors to avoid a US government ban, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew told employees on Thursday (December 18).

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.

The details of…