TikTok has closed a $14 billion deal establishing a U.S. subsidiary of the platform to avoid a ban, the company said Thursday. The new owners will include the U.S. private equity firm Silver Lake, Abu Dhabi-based artificial intelligence company MGX and Oracle, a tech giant co-founded by Larry Ellison, an ally of President Donald Trump. They will each hold a 15 percent stake in the U.S. joint venture. The deal allows TikTok’s Beijing-based parent company, ByteDance, to maintain a nearly 20 percent stake. The Dell Family Office, investment firm of Chair and CEO of Dell Technologies Michael Dell, is also an investor. Congress passed a law in April 2024 requiring the sale of TikTok to a U.S. buyer before Jan. 19, 2025, or banning it, citing national security concerns about the app’s ties to China. But Trump delayed the ban from taking effect five times last year while a deal was negotiated to divest the app to American owners. Trump signed an executive order in September approving the deal and giving the parties until Friday to formalize the terms. The deal matches an internal memo distributed by TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew last month, who said the agreement would be finalized by Thursday. The U.S. version will operate as an independent entity, governed by a seven-member board including TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew, Oracle Executive Vice President Kenneth Glueck, Timothy Dattels, senior adviser of TPG Global; Mark Dooley, managing director at Susquehanna International Group; Silver Lake Co-CEO Egon Durban, DXC Technology CEO Raul Fernandez; and David Scott, chief strategy and safety officer at MGX. Adam Presser, head of operations and trust and safety at TikTok, will now serve as CEO of the joint venture. Trump praised the deal in a Truth Social post Thursday evening. “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,” Trump wrote. Trump said in September that Chinese President Xi Jinping had agreed to the deal, but Chinese officials provided an ambiguous narrative, signaling that any deal would be a drawn out process. China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the country “respects the wishes of enterprises” and welcomes them to reach “solutions that comply with Chinese laws and regulations and balance interests.” The president thanked Xi in his Truth Social post “for working with us and, ultimately, approving the Deal.” “He could have gone the other way, but didn’t, and is appreciated for his decision,” Trump wrote. Trump previously described the deal as a “qualified divestiture,” meaning the sale would fully sever ByteDance’s control over the platform and therefore make TikTok legal under the U.S. law. China hawks on Capitol Hill have championed this issue over national security concerns and fears that the Chinese-controlled app subjects users to government surveillance and content manipulation. While they’ve vowed to scrutinize the potential deal to ensure it adheres to the law, they seemed prepared to accept Trump’s claim the deal would resolve concerns over national security and control. Vice President JD Vance confirmed that the U.S. owners would have control over the app’s algorithm, which is at the heart of the platform’s success. “The U.S. company will have control over how the algorithm pushes content to users and that was a very important part of it,” Vance said during the September executive order signing in the Oval Office. “We thought it was necessary for the national security level element of the law.” According to the company release, the U.S. version will retrain and update the platform’s algorithm based on U.S. user data. Oracle will control the algorithm within its U.S. cloud environment. “President Trump got played by Xi Jinping. He got terrible advice from his staff on these negotiations. This isn’t the Art of the Deal, it’s the art of the steal. Xi Jinping can’t believe his luck,” Michael Sobolik, senior fellow at the right-leaning Hudson Institute and an expert on U.S.-China policy, told POLITICO.

One trillion US dollars of gross domestic product (GDP) has been surpassed. Poland has entered the ranks of the world’s 20 largest economies, symbolically ending a phase of chasing the West that has lasted more than three decades. The Polish Development Fund’s (PFR) new strategy seeks to address the challenge of avoiding the medium-level development trap and transitioning from the role of subcontractor to that of investor. This year marks a turning point in Polish economic history. After years of transformation, reforms and overcoming civilizational deficits, Poland has reached a point that the generation of ‘89 could only dream of. GDP crossed the symbolic barrier of US$1 trillion, and we proudly enter the exclusive club of the world’s 20 largest economies. Diversified Polish exports are breaking records, and innovative companies are conquering global markets. Sound like a happy ending? Not necessarily. Via PFR Investing for future generations Poland’s past success invites tougher challenges in a brutal world. The cheap labor growth model is dead; demographics are relentless. PFR analyses highlight declining employment as a core issue — without bold changes, stagnation looms. Piotr Matczuk, PFR president, says Poland needs an impetus for resilience, innovation and growth. PFR’s 2026-2030 strategy is that roadmap, urging a shift to high gear. On Dec. 10, it unveiled investments for future generations. Geopolitics enters the balance sheet PFR’s strategy marks a paradigm shift: integrating economics with security. Business now anchors state security, with “economic and defence resilience” as a core pillar — viewing security spending as essential insurance, not cost. > The PFR’s strategy is clear: the competitiveness of the Polish economy depends > directly on access to cheap and clean energy. PFR has invested in WB Electronics, Poland’s defense leader in command systems and drones. It expands beyond arms via dual-use tech: algorithms, encrypted communications and autonomous drones often from civilian startups. This spring’s PFR Deep Tech program backs venture capital (VC) for scaling these firms; IDA targets innovations for logistics, cybersecurity and future defense. The focus is Poland’s technological sovereignty. Controlling key security links — from ammo to artificial intelligence — ensures economic maturity resilient to geopolitical shocks. > Poland needs a boost to our resilience, innovation and growth rate. That is > why the new strategy emphasizes investment in new technologies, infrastructure > and the financial security of Poles. We want the PFR to be a catalyst for > change and a partner of choice — an institution that invests for future > generations, sets quality standards in development financing and supports > Polish entrepreneurs in boosting their international presence. > > Piotr Matczuk, President, PFR Piotr Matczuk, President, PFR / Via PFR Energy: to be or not to be for the industry If defense is the shield, then energy is the bloodstream. The PFR’s strategy is clear: the competitiveness of the Polish economy depends directly on access to cheap and clean energy. Without accelerating the transformation, Polish companies, instead of increasing their share in foreign markets, may lose their position. This is why the fund wants to enter the game as an investor where the risks are high, but the stakes are even higher — into an investment gap that the commercial market alone will not fill.  The concept of local content, in other words the participation of domestic companies in the supply chain, is key to the new strategy. This is where the circle closes. The Baltic Hub is not just a container terminal. Investment in the T5 installation terminal is the foundation, as the Polish offshore will not be built with the appropriate participation of a domestic port. This is a classic example of how the PFR works: building ‘hard’ infrastructure that becomes a springboard for a whole new sector of the economy.  The end of being a subcontractor: capital emancipation Taking inspiration from, among others, France’s Tibi Initiative, in mid-November 2025 the Polish minister of finance and economy, Andrzej Domański, announced the Innovate Poland program. The PFR plays a leading role in what will be the largest initiative in the history of the Polish economy to invest in innovative projects. Thanks to cooperation with Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego (BGK), PZU and the European Investment Fund, Innovate Poland is already worth 4 billion złoty, and the program multiplier may reach as much as 3-4. The combined development and private capital will be invested by experienced VC and private equity funds. The aim is to further Poland’s economic development — driven by innovative companies that make a profit. In the first phase, it is expected to finance up to 250 companies at various stages of development. Via PFR The expansion of Polish companies abroad is also part of the effort for advancement in the global hierarchy. Their support is one of the pillars of the new PFR strategy. For three decades, Poland has played the role of the assembly plant of Europe — solid, cheap and hard-working. However, the highest margins, flowing from having a global brand and market control, went overseas. Polish companies need to stop being anonymous subcontractors and become owners of assets in foreign markets.  Here, the PFR acts as financial leverage. The support for the Trend Group is a prime example of this maturing process. This is a transaction with a symbolic dimension: it reverses the investment vector of the 1990s, when German capital was consolidating Polish assets. Today, it is Polish entities that are increasingly becoming leaders in offering industrial solutions in the European Union. > Polish companies need to stop being anonymous subcontractors and become owners > of assets in foreign markets. However, these ambitions extend beyond the Western direction. The strategy strongly emphasizes Poland’s role in the future reconstruction of Ukraine and the consolidation of the Central and Eastern European region. The involvement of the PFR in the operations of the Euvic Group on the Ukrainian IT market is a good example. In the digital world, big players have more power, and the PFR strives to ensure that the decision-making centers of those growing giants remain in Poland. Most importantly, Polish businesses are no longer alone in this struggle. The strategy institutionalizes the concept of ‘Team Poland’. In this initiative, the PFR provides capital; BGK, a state development bank, offers debt solutions; the KUKE, an insurance company, insures the risk; and the Polish Investment and Trade Agency provides promotional support. Acting like a one-stop shop, all these institutions enable Polish capital to compete as a partner in the global league. This is part of the Polish government’s modern economic diplomacy strategy, led by Domański. Capital for generations. From an employee to a stakeholder in the economy  All grand plans need fuel. Mature economies like the Netherlands and the United Kingdom harness citizens’ savings via capital markets. PFR’s strategy boldly demands Poland’s success create generational wealth: turning the average Kowalski from an employee into a stakeholder. Diagnosis is brutal: Poles save little (6.38 percent compared with the EU’s 14.32 percent in Q1 2024) and inefficiently, favoring low-interest deposits. Employee Capital Plans (PPK) drive cultural change. Hard data demonstrate this: 67 percent average returns over five years crush traditional savings. It’s a virtuous cycle — PPK capital feeds stock markets, finances company growth and loops profits back to future pensioners. An architect, not a firefighter  The new PFR strategy for 2026-30 is a clear signal of a paradigm shift. The company, which many Polish entrepreneurs still see as a firefighter extinguishing the flames of the pandemic with billions from the Anti-Covid Financial Shields, is definitively taking off its helmet and putting on an engineer’s hard hat. It is shifting from interventionist to creator mode, abandoning the role of ‘night watchman’ of the Polish economy to that of its ‘chief architect’. This is an ambitious attempt to establish an institution in Poland that not only provides capital, but also actively shapes the country’s economic landscape, setting the direction for development for decades to come.

The Trump administration extended a sanctions waiver for Russian oil giant Lukoil, days before Washington’s measures were set to take effect.  The U.S. Treasury Department issued licenses to allow Lukoil to keep operating many of its businesses around the world until Dec. 13 — and until April 2026 for its refinery in Bulgaria — as the company looks to sell off its foreign assets. Last month, American President Donald Trump announced “tremendous” new sanctions targeting Lukoil and Kremlin-owned Rosneft over Moscow’s refusal to negotiate an end to its war in Ukraine. The punitive measures had been set to come into force on Nov. 21. The measures, announced on Oct. 22, were “a result of Russia’s lack of serious commitment to a peace process to end the war in Ukraine,” the U.S. Treasury said.  Lukoil subsequently announced it would sell its overseas assets but has yet to find a buyer after a deal with Swiss-based firm Gunvor fell through when Washington blocked it. U.S. private equity firm Carlyle is considering purchasing the vast international holdings, according to Reuters. Potential buyers now have until Dec. 13 to negotiate with Lukoil.  It’s expected Washington will only authorize a sale if it completely severs ties with Lukoil and the funds from that sale are placed into a blocked account that Lukoil cannot access until the sanctions are lifted. Trump’s sanctions sent European countries scrambling to prevent fuel cutoffs. Germany won a six-month exemption for its Rosneft-owned Schwedt refinery, which was formalized by Washington on Friday, while Bulgaria moved to nationalize the country’s enormous Lukoil-owned Burgas refinery.  Hungary locked in a one-year exemption to keep purchasing Russian oil after Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s visit to the White House earlier this month. 

Warning signs from an obscure part of the financial markets have got policymakers rattled, and one of their oldest and most profound fears may be about to get very real. As the world’s top central bankers and finance ministers descend on Washington for the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, signs are increasing that the next bout of financial instability may be around the corner. The most worrying signs are arguably not from the foreign exchange market, where confidence in the dollar — the global system’s anchor — is gradually eroding, nor from the stock market, where the AI frenzy has driven equities to record highs in the U.S. and Europe. Rather, it’s what’s happening in the credit markets that’s sending a shiver down the spine of all those who remember 2008. The collapse of U.S. auto loan dealer Tricolor and parts supplier First Brands Group hints that something may be wrong in the world of private credit. Private credit refers to loans that are neither issued by banks nor publicly traded on an exchange like corporate bonds. It’s a broad description, and it can refer to anything from the aforementioned car loans issued by special credit suppliers to private funds lending money to help buy a family-owned company or financing for a new apartment block. It’s a young market, but has grown at breakneck speed. Goldman Sachs estimates it’s worth $2.1 trillion, and private equity companies, in particular, have made a fortune from it, helped by a vast amount of leverage. Because the money isn’t lent by banks, and because it’s structured as a private deal off the public markets, it’s a corner of the financial ecosystem that’s particularly hard to oversee — even when, as with Tricolor, the loans are then repackaged into tradable bonds. That means that if something is going disastrously wrong, it might only be detected once it’s too late. Officials are alarmed that something like that might be happening. For years, banking regulators have congratulated themselves on stamping out the kind of excessive risk-taking, questionable ethics and shoddy governance that caused the last financial crisis. But all along, they have fretted that, far from being dead, such behavior had just moved to other parts of the financial system outside their reach. In a speech last week, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde warned that it was “imperative” to improve transparency in the non-bank financial sector, whose assets are now bigger than those of the regulated banking sector. “Policymakers must do so sooner rather than later,” she said. The Bank of England also took up the theme earlier this week, its Financial Policy Committee warning that “the risk of a sharp market correction has increased.” It said the defaults in the U.S. “underscore some of the risks the FPC has previously highlighted around high leverage, weak underwriting standards, opacity, and complex structures.” THE WHEELS COME OFF Texas-based Tricolor was an auto loan provider that lent to riskier clients, notably undocumented migrants. First Brands, meanwhile, is a car parts supplier that used opaque and complex financing schemes to pay its suppliers — until it wasn’t able to anymore. One of its creditors, Raistone, alleges that some $2.3 billion that it was owed “simply vanished.” Shares of investment bank Jefferies tumbled this week after it declared it had $715 million in exposure to First Brands. Swiss giant UBS, meanwhile, says it has $500 million at risk. The big question is whether the twin bankruptcies — concentrated in an inherently riskier segment of the market — are just two accidentally similar one-offs, or whether they are the first signs of a broader crisis brewing. Credit rating agency Fitch said defaults in the private credit market rose to 5.5 percent in the second quarter of the year, up from 4.5 percent in the first quarter. Meanwhile, in January, Fitch said auto loan payments that were 60 or more days late among the least creditworthy (subprime) borrowers were at the highest level on record, at 6.6 percent. A growing body of academic literature has found extensive links between non-bank financial institutions (NBFIs) — a category that includes hedge funds and private equity, as well as private credit — and the traditional banking sector. “Through these linkages, shocks can propagate rapidly across entities, sectors, or jurisdictions, especially when multiple institutions respond simultaneously to market stress,” said the authors of a paper at this year’s ECB research conference in Sintra, Portugal. They wrote that nearly one tenth of banks’ assets in the European Union were claims on NBFIs, and that 10-15 percent of banks’ deposits also came from non-banks. Loriana Pelizzon, deputy scientific director at the Leibniz Institute for Financial Research and one of the authors of the paper, said she wasn’t overly concerned about the two bankruptcies, given the relatively small size of the auto financing market. However, she said that interlinkages between European NBFIs and the U.S. financial system needed to be monitored, given the scale of the investments. “There’s a significant amount — trillions and trillions invested — in the U.S.,” she said, noting that investment chains are often long and complex, and that regulators lack insight into them. “The question is whether this is just a couple of rotten apples,” said Davide Oneglia, director at economic consultancy TS Lombard. He said that the risk in the private credit segment will grow further if U.S. interest rates don’t fall as quickly as expected, for example, due to high inflation. That would put a further squeeze on private credit providers. IN PLAIN SIGHT But it’s not just private credit that has policymakers on tenterhooks. The benchmark U.S. stock index S&P 500 is now trading at nearly 30 times the expected earnings of its components, far above its long-run average, and closer to the freak levels seen during the Dotcom boom and the pandemic. Over the last three years, the S&P has risen over 80 percent, largely powered by the performance of U.S. tech stocks on the back of a boom in AI investment. Companies have invested some $400 billion to build out the infrastructure — microchip factories and data centers — that powers AI. Should that money turn out to be misspent, for example, if AI doesn’t provide the productivity gains that investors are betting on, that bubble will burst with painful consequences. In parallel, unbridled government spending throughout the developed world, from the U.S., to Europe and Japan, have pushed market interest rates higher, amid growing doubts that governments can ever repay the debts they are building up. That has also helped push the price of gold — seen as a safe asset that won’t lose value — higher, with some investors piling into both gold and Bitcoin to avoid the debasement of their investments through inflation. It’s not clear which of these — if any — will light the wick of the next global financial meltdown. But what is clear is that policymakers will have no shortage of threats to obsess over next week.

U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren has called for a former Trump-appointed banking regulator to be dismissed from the global financial watchdog, warning he is putting the world’s economic stability at risk. Randal Quarles, who was vice chair of supervision at the U.S. Federal Reserve from 2017 to 2021 where he oversaw a wave of deregulation, was last month chosen to lead a worldwide review of post-2008 financial crisis reforms for the Financial Stability Board. In a letter addressed to FSB Chair Andrew Bailey, obtained by POLITICO, Warren blamed Quarles’ deregulatory measures for the collapse of three U.S. banks including Silicon Valley Bank in 2023 and warned he would bring the same mindset to global standards. “Mr. Quarles spent his tenure as a top financial regulator in the United States weakening safeguards for megabanks at the expense of financial stability and the American public,” said Warren, a former U.S. presidential hopeful who is the most senior Democrat on the Senate banking committee. “It would be deeply troubling if this FSB review became a mechanism to coordinate the easing of post-2008 rules across the globe.” She said Quarles’ background “demonstrates that he is the wrong person to lead such a review.” She called on Bailey to “consider terminating the appointment and conduct your own search for a suitable replacement.” Bailey, who is governor of the Bank of England, became FSB chair after Quarles’ appointment. The warning came as the FSB, a global body that monitors and coordinates national financial regulations, issued new guidance on the regulation of nonbank financial groups, such as hedge funds. The guidance recommended capping the amount of borrowing these groups can do, but left up to national regulators to determine the details. ROLLING BACK SAFEGUARDS In the years following the 2008 global financial crisis, countries clubbed together and tasked the FSB with coordinating national regulators to prevent a similar crisis happening again. But in 2017, with momentum shifting back to deregulation, newly-elected U.S. president Donald Trump nominated Quarles to head up the Fed’s banking supervision arm. Warren’s main criticism of Quarles relates to his implementation of the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act, which gave the Fed discretion to apply tougher regulatory standards to large banks with assets of between $100 billion and $250 billion. “Under the law, Mr. Quarles had discretion to apply these rules … [but] he and other Trump-installed regulators refused to do so,” she said. She said Quarles also led the rollback of rules prohibiting banks from making “risky proprietary bets with customer deposits and from investing in or sponsoring hedge funds or private equity funds.” Both of these contributed to the collapse in 2023 of Silicon Valley Bank, she said. As well as calling for Quarles’ termination, the letter asks whether his appointment is an indication that the FSB sees “this review as an opportunity to coordinate the easing of post-2008 financial safeguards.” Neither Quarles nor the FSB immediately responded to a request for comment.