The group of investors that officially bought TikTok’s US assets includes an affiliate of Susquehanna International Group, the Pennsylvania investment giant owned by billionaire Jeff Yass, which will gain a spot on the spinoff venture’s board.
SIG’s story with TikTok dates back years, to ByteDance’s very beginnings.
After years of regulatory battles over ties to China, the joint venture dubbed TikTok USDS late Thursday evening announced a deal that will allow the app to continue operating in the United States.
The new company, led by top investors Silver Lake, Oracle, and MGX, also encompasses US operations for ByteDance’s other portfolio companies, CapCut and Lemon8. ByteDance will retain a 19.9% stake.
While many investors are participating in the deal for an undisclosed sum, one name stands out: Vastmere Strategic Investments, LLC, an affiliate of Bala Cynwyd, PA-based Susquehanna International Group. SIG’s story with TikTok dates back years, to ByteDance’s very beginnings.
Keep reading for all the details on how this happened and what it means.
➡️ Jump to a section:
• What’s Susquehanna International Group’s history with ByteDance?
• Who will be on the TikTok board?
• What exactly is Susquehanna International Group?
• Where is Susquehanna International Group based?
• Who leads Susquehanna International Group?
• What does Susquehanna International Group’s link to TikTok mean for Pennsylvania?
• How did Susquehanna International Group become so large?
• What other big companies has Susquehanna International Group invested in?
What’s Susquehanna International Group’s history with ByteDance?
SIG has been involved with TikTok parent company ByteDance since the beginning.
In 2012, the firm quietly joined a $5 million investment round in the Beijing-based startup shortly after it was founded, according to reporting from the Wall Street Journal. SIG also separately invested in short-form video app Musical.ly, which ByteDance later acquired and folded into TikTok by 2018.
As TikTok skyrocketed in popularity, SIG got far more than its money back. The financial firm reportedly owns a 15% stake in ByteDance. SIG managing director Jeff Yass personally owns a 7% stake in the company, worth an estimated $21 billion.
Who will be on the TikTok board?
Mark Dooley, managing director at SIG, will represent the firm on TikTok’s US board of directors. According to his LinkedIn profile, Dooley is based in the Philadelphia region and has been at SIG for nearly four decades. As one of SIG’s first employees, Dooler oversaw the firm’s transformation from traditional floor trading to a tech-driven endeavor, Forbes previously reported.
Other board members include:
- TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew
- Oracle executive vice president Kenneth Glueck
- TPG Global senior adviser Timothy Dattels
- Silver Lake co-CEO Egon Durban
- DXC Technology CEO Raul Fernandez
- MGX chief strategy and safety officer David Scott
Adam Presser, the current head of operations and trust and safety at TikTok, will serve as CEO.
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What exactly is Susquehanna International Group?
At its core, SIG is a financial firm that facilitates the buying and selling of stocks, bonds and other financial products. It describes itself as a quantitative trading firm, meaning it relies on data and math to guide its investment decisions.
Beyond trading, SIG also builds its own tech. Its engineers and developers create tools to support trading, analyze market data and manage risk.
SIG employs more than 3,200 people across more than 17 offices worldwide, according to its website.
Where is Susquehanna International Group based?
SIG is headquartered in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania, right outside of Philadelphia in Montgomery County.
The firm has five additional US offices — New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Stamford and West Palm Beach — plus international offices in Europe, Israel, Asia and the Pacific.
Who leads Susquehanna International Group?
Jeff Yass cofounded SIG in 1987 and still serves as managing director today, holding a 51% stake in the firm. He holds the title of Pennsylvania’s richest man and the No. 23 wealthiest person in the world, with a $63 billion fortune.
A self-described libertarian, Yass has donated millions to political campaigns. He spent at least $18 million during the 2022 primaries backing conservative causes. By the end of that election cycle, Yass had spent $47 million, about a third of which went to a PAC supporting lower taxes and less regulation, according to CNBC.
He more than doubled that spending in 2024. According to political donation tracking platform OpenSecrets, Yass and his wife donated $100 million in contributions to Republican candidates. For example, he spent millions — via the Commonwealth Leaders Fund — to support Dave Sunday’s campaign for Pennsylvania attorney general.
His political support often ties back to one key issue: school choice. Yass spent at least $34 million on the issue in 2024, funding groups and individuals that support vouchers and other alternatives to public schools.
In 2025, Yass donated $16 million to Trump super PAC MAGA Inc. and at least $2.5 million to the White House ballroom renovations as the executive office weighed a TikTok ban.
Before founding the financial firm, Yass worked as a professional gambler, specializing in poker and horse betting.
What does Susquehanna International Group’s link to TikTok mean for Pennsylvania?
SIG didn’t immediately respond to Technical.ly’s request for comment on whether the board position will impact its Pennsylvania HQ and the surrounding region.
That said, SIG’s tie to TikTok has landed it in a Pennsylvania court before. In 2022, two entrepreneurs associated with SIG alleged that after helping the financial firm land the investment, its leadership cut their share of the stakes.
Managing director Yass’s ties in Pennsylvania have their own influence, too. He routinely contributes millions of dollars to state and local conservative political campaigns, as well as associated PACs.
How did Susquehanna International Group become so large?
Founded in 1987, SIG hit the market shortly before the “Black Monday” stock market crash — and that same crash is what helped it take off.
SIG grew from a group of six cofounders to a 100-person company generating $30 million in annual revenue by October 1988 after making millions playing the market post-crash.
Cofounder and managing director Yass then leaned into program trading, an automated way to buy and sell large amounts of stock. Though controversial at the time, the method pushed SIG to keep expanding, and the financial firm became known for using computer models to find the best trades.
From there, SIG opened more offices and expanded internationally. Despite the 2008 financial crisis, SIG was among the large firms that benefited from government bailouts. It continued to grow through notable investments, including a 2012 stake in TikTok owner ByteDance that has since swelled to an estimated $15 billion.
Today, SIG is worth nearly $50 billion, according to Bloomberg.
What other big companies has Susquehanna International Group invested in?
SIG largely deals in ETFs, or investment funds made up of a collection of companies.
For example, SIG holds stakes in the SPDR S&P 500 ETF, which lets buyers invest in the country’s top 500 companies all at once, and QQQ Trust Series 1, an ETF that includes 100 of the largest non-financial companies listed on the Nasdaq.
Investment analysis website Stockzoa also lists Tesla, Nvidia and Apple among SIG’s top holdings, according to an analysis of its recent SEC filings.
SIG is notably active in the cryptocurrency space, owning a large share of Bitcoin funds.
