How to Invest in TikTok Stock in 2026

TikTok is the 5th most popular social media platform in the world.

It's used by over 1.5 billion people each month, and is one of just eight social media apps with more than 1 billion monthly active users.

TikTok was created by ByteDance, one of the world's largest social media companies by revenue.*

*ByteDance posted revenue of $43 billion in Q1 2025 and $48 billion in Q2 2025, ahead of Meta's (META) respective $42.3 billion and $47.5 billion.

In January 2026, ByteDance finalized a deal to establish a majority-American owned joint venture to manage TikTok U.S. to avoid the short form video app from being banned in the U.S.

Under the new structure, ByteDance retained 19.9% ownership of TikTok U.S., with the remaining 80.1% being owned by:

• Oracle (ORCL): 15%
• Silver Lake: 15%
• MGX: 15%
• Other investors: 35.1%

Oracle, Silver Lake, and MGX are the managing investors of TikTok U.S.

TikTok is wholly owned by these companies. There is no TikTok stock symbol and no way to invest in it directly.

However, you can invest in TikTok indirectly by investing in the companies that own it.

Here's how.

How to invest in TikTok

1. ByteDance

ByteDance is still the primary owner of TikTok, owning 100% of the app internationally and 19.9% of the U.S. joint venture.

In February 2026, ByteDance was valued at $550 billion in a proposed equity sale. That number increased to $600 billion in April after multiple parties expressed interest. 

In addition to TikTok, ByteDance owns Toutiao (a news aggegator), Douyin (TikTok's equivalent in China), and Doubao (an AI chatbot).

Unfortunately, ByteDance is a private company, so you can't buy its shares in your regular brokerage account.

Although the company had plans to IPO on either the NYSE or Nasdaq exchanges in 2021, this move was blocked by Chinese regulators. Since then, management has paused all conversations of an IPO.

Still, there are a couple of ways to get exposure to ByteDance, depending on whether you're an accredited or retail investor.

Are you an accredited or retail investor?

You qualify as an accredited investor if you meet one of the following criteria:

• You have an annual income of $200,000 individually or $300,000 jointly
• Your net worth exceeds $1,000,000, excluding your primary residence

a) Buy ByteDance as an accredited investor

Hiive is a secondary marketplace platform where accredited investors can buy shares of private, VC-backed companies.

There are thousands of private companies available for investment on Hiive, including ByteDance:

There are 10 listings of ByteDance stock available on Hiive right now. Shares are listed at $279.03 on Hiive.

Each listing on Hiive is made by a different seller who sets their own asking price and quantity of shares available. Sellers may be current or former employees, venture capitalists, or angel investors.

Buyers can accept the asking prices as listed or place bids and negotiate directly with sellers.

After registering, you can see the complete order book for every company on the platform. That includes all bids and asks, as well as the price of every recently completed order.

Hit the button below to see the order book for ByteDance:

Register for Hiive

Disclosure: This is an affiliate link. We may receive compensation if you create a Hiive account.

b) Buy ByteDance as a retail investor

If you don't qualify as an accredited investor, you can still gain exposure to ByteDance by investing in its publicly-traded investors.

Both Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) and SoftBank Group (SFTBY) own stakes in ByteDance.

KKR, a global investment firm headquartered in New York, participated in ByteDance's Series E funding round in October 2018 which raised $3 billion at a $72 billion valuation. It also particpated in another round in December 2020 which raised $2 billion at a $178 billion valuation.

If we assume KKR invested $250 million in 2018 and $500 million in 2020, its stake has grown to around $3.8 billion (assuming a $600 billion valuation), or around 4.2% of KKR's $93 billion market capitalization.

SoftBank, a Japanese technology and telecom conglomerate best known for its investments in disruptive technology, participated in the same two funding rounds as KKR but sold a slice of its holding at a valuation of $220 billion in March 2023.

If we assume it still holds a $2 billion stake, ByteDance makes up 1.25% of its market capitalization ($160 billion).

2. Oracle

Following the establishment of the TikTok U.S. joint venture, Oracle (ORCL) is now one of the most accessible ways to gain exposure to TikTok.

Oracle owns 15% of TikTok U.S., a business previously estimated to be worth as much as $50 billion (though the forced sale gave it a valuation of $14 billion). Using the $50 billion figure, Oracle's 15% stake may be worth around $7.5 billion, or 1.5% of its $490 billion market capitalization.

Although it's one of the easiest ways to invest in TikTok, buying Oracle stock is a very indirect means of gaining exposure.

TikTok in the U.S.

U.S. lawmakers have long been concerned that TikTok could be used to spy on American citizens since China requires its companies, upon request, to share any national security-related data with its government.

U.S. officials are also worried the app's algorithm could be used to subtly manipulate American public opinion.

Those fears prompted the federal government to ban TikTok from official devices in 2020. 34 out of 50 states followed suit, restricting use on state-issued phones.

TikTok has also been banned from government devices in many European countries.

At the same time, a broader effort emerged to force ByteDance to divest its U.S. TikTok operations or face a full nationwide ban. ByteDance was initially open to a partial sale, but later filed a lawsuit that argued the executive order was politically motivated.

In December 2020, a federal judge sided with ByteDance and issued an injunction blocking the executive order.

But the legal and political pressure didn't go away.

In December 2022, President Biden revived the government device ban. Then, in early 2024, Congress passed another bill threatening a full ban unless ByteDance completed a "qualified divestiture" of its U.S. operations.

The ban went into effect on January 19, 2025.

But just hours after the suspension of services, President-elect Trump offered a 90-day extension, giving ByteDance more time to divest the app. 

Since then, his administration has issued additional extensions, and the current deadline is set for January 2026.

Throughout 2025, President Trump was in discussions with multiple potential buyers for TikTok's U.S. business.

In September, he issued an order saying — among other things — ByteDance will own a less-than-20% stake in TikTok U.S. and the rest of the company will be owned by "certain investors." The order also said the business would be valued at $14 billion.*

*Analysts previously estimated TikTok U.S. may be worth between $35 billion and $50 billion.

In October, after more than a year of negotiations, U.S. Treasury Scott Bessent announced the U.S. and China were nearing a resolution to transfer TikTok's U.S. operations to a consortium of U.S. companies led by Oracle (ORCL).

Will TikTok go public in the future?

Given its current ownership structure, TikTok is unlikely to go public in the future.

That said, ByteDance (TikTok's creator and majority owner, outside of the U.S.) was near an IPO on the NYSE or Nasdaq back in 2021 before Chinese regulators stalled its progress.

Since then, its IPO plans have been on ice, and management has made no indication of when it will go public. However, that may change in the future.

If/when ByteDance goes public, you'll be able to look up its stock symbol and buy it in your brokerage account. If you don't have a brokerage account, we recommend Public.

On Public, you can invest in stocks, ETFs, Treasuries, and cryptocurrencies, all on one of the most well-designed investing platforms.

Disclosure: This is an affiliate link. We may receive compensation if you take action through it.