"The deal, which was announced in late December and set to close on Jan. 22, according to Axios, ends the years-long saga of TikTok's Chinese parent ByteDance to sell the company's U.S. operation to domestic owners. Oracle, Silver Lake and Abu Dhabi-based MGX together will own 45% of the U.S. entity, 20% will be retained by ByteDance and nearly one-third of the company will be held by affiliates of existing ByteDance investors, per Axios."
""From the advertiser perspective, it almost felt like you were just watching this chaos unfold that you can't control. All you can do is control where your ad spend and your dollars go," said Kira Henson, director of paid social and search at Good Apple, an independent media agency, on X's takeover in comparison to TikTok's new proposed ownership deal."
"X's ad business has started to turn around since the takeover. The platform is expected to take in $2.46 billion in global ad revenue this year, up from $2.26 billion in 2025, according to eMarketer. TikTok's ad business, however, eclipses those figures. Almost $1 out of every $7 spent on social network ads was expected to go to TikTok, which eMarketer said will generate more than $17 billion in U.S. ad revenue alone."
After spending 2025 in regulatory limbo, TikTok enters 2026 with a clearer ownership path in the U.S. The December deal, set to close Jan. 22, gives Oracle, Silver Lake and Abu Dhabi-based MGX a combined 45% stake, leaves ByteDance with 20%, and assigns nearly one-third to affiliates of existing ByteDance investors. Some marketers fear ownership change could cause operational whiplash, drawing comparisons to Elon Musk's takeover of X. TikTok's ad business dwarfs X's, with TikTok expected to capture more than $17 billion in U.S. ad revenue while X's global ad revenue is forecast at $2.46 billion. Legislative pressure in 2025 forced the ownership divestment push.
Read at Digiday
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]