Syed Saif Ul Hassan 
Sep 16, 2025
The US government has announced that it's closing on the deal to sell off TikTok's operations in the country, a move deemed to set aside the long-standing gloom hovering over the Chinese short-video platform.
The finalisation of a deal for the divestiture of TikTok's US operations comes a little over six months after it was extended a last-minute reprieve by the incumbent US administration, presided over by Donald Trump, after the video-sharing app went dark on January 19.
As announced by US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, a framework for a final TikTok sell-off deal has been established, which would transfer control of TikTok’s US operations to an American investor.
It's worth noting that the deal would allow TikTok's Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to maintain a significant ownership stake.
The deal is “between two private parties,” and commercial terms have been agreed upon as the deal's legal deadline is set to arrive this week, Bessent stated.
The agreement comes in compliance with the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act (PAFACA), which obliges ByteDance to divest certain controls or face a ban in the US.
If the deal gets closed, TikTok creators in the US will be relieved, as their fate has been in limbo due to the months-long TikTok US controversy, which might result in a full-fledged ban on the condition of ByteDance not willing to transfer the social media platform's control.
