Abu Dhabi’s MGX forms part of TikTok’s US future

• MGX one of three TikTok US investors
• Alongside Oracle and Silver Lake
• Seven-member board

TikTok has struck a deal that will allow the short-video platform to continue operating in the US, ending years of political, legal and diplomatic tensions between Washington and Beijing over the app’s ownership and data security.

The agreement restructures TikTok’s US business under a new ownership model led by three managing investors: Oracle, Silver Lake and MGX, the Abu Dhabi-based investment fund focused on AI and advanced technology. 

Each will hold a 15 percent stake in the US operations, placing MGX alongside two of the most influential names in technology and private equity.

TikTok’s US business will now operate as an independent entity, TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC, governed by a seven-member board with a majority of American directors. 

Adam Presser, formerly of WarnerMedia, has been appointed chief executive. TikTok’s global chief executive, Shou Zi Chew, will sit on the board alongside MGX chief strategy and safety officer David Scott and representatives from Oracle and Silver Lake.

US President Donald Trump praised the deal on his social media platform Truth Social, writing: “I am so happy to have helped in saving TikTok! It will now be owned by a group of Great American Patriots and Investors, the Biggest in the World, and will be an important Voice.”

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MGX was founded in 2024 by Abu Dhabi AI company G42 and sovereign wealth fund Mubadala to invest in AI and other emerging technologies.

The deal resolves a dispute that began during Trump’s first term in office, when his administration sought to ban TikTok over national security concerns linked to its Chinese owner, ByteDance. 

US lawmakers have argued that Beijing could compel ByteDance to hand over American user data, claims consistently denied by both the company and TikTok.

The pressure intensified under President Joe Biden, who in 2024 signed legislation requiring ByteDance to sell TikTok’s US operations or face a nationwide ban.