Katarina Polonska and her husband are both set to inherit properties abroad from their parents.
Courtesy of Katarina Polonska
Katarina Polonska lives in Canada but is set to inherit her childhood home in Slovakia.
Making the property profitable as a rental would require renovations that could be complicated from abroad.
Polonska thinks parents should have an open dialogue with their kids about future inheritances.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Katarina Polonska, a relationship scientist and coach who will be inheriting her childhood home in Slovakia. Vancouver-based Polonska, 36, said the home needs a lot of work, and it may not be worth managing renovations from abroad. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
I’m going to be inheriting my childhood home where I was born. I love it, and it’s very precious to me. But I don’t have any right to it yet.
It’s mostly used as a family holiday home, but ultimately when my mother passes, it’s going to be given to me.
My mother owns it, and there’s no plan to sell it — the value of the home isn’t very high, in fairness. It’s a two-bedroom, one-bathroom. It’s not worth much at all; maybe $80,000 CAD. I don’t think the money would go very far in Canada.
Also, selling it would require a lot of renovations. It’s very old school and needs a lot of TLC, and my mother doesn’t live in Slovakia, she lives in England. So from her perspective, she’s thinking, “Why would I invest 30,000 or 50,000 euros (about $35,245 or $58,742) in a property that I go to a few times a year max? What’s the point?”
She also knows it would to be really complicated to sell it from abroad, having to navigate viewings and trusting realtors and all of this stuff.
The reality is, I’m going to own this foreign property when she passes.
My husband is in a similar situation with a Barbados property
His mother had to wait to take over the Barbados property, and by the time she took it over, it had declined a little bit and there are always complications with it.
Polonska and her husband.
Courtesy of Katarina Polonska
I’ve actually never seen it myself, but I know that there’s a lot of work to be done with the house. But his mother has been holding onto it saying, “You can inherit it and you and Kat can enjoy it.”
But he’s like, “We don’t go to Barbados enough.” It’s just more hassle having to manage and protect a property when you’re not physically in the country.
I think from my perspective, because I’m naive about it, I’m like, keep it, it’d be really nice to have it. But his argument is that the place isn’t in the area of Barbados that I would necessarily want to go to.
He’s really wary. He doesn’t want to be managing the property and he would rather sell it and then distribute the money within his family.
So we both know that there’s going to be this new responsibility on our heads and, candidly, I think life is difficult enough as it is.
The home in Slovakia needs so much work that I probably can’t rent it out as-is
I’m not going to rent the Slovakia home out because it’s from, like, the 1980s. It’s not been renovated. It’s ancient; the wallpaper’s faded.
While Slovakia is kind of an up-and-coming country from a tourism perspective, I don’t think anyone would want to stay in this place as an Airbnb unless it was literally advertised as a historical relic: “Come stay in this ancient old-school apartment!”
Polonska’s property in Slovakia.
Courtesy of Katarina Polonska
My husband and I have talked about how we’re probably going to have to renovate it. We know that at some point, we’re probably going to have to take a couple of months to be there physically to renovate it. But when is that going to happen? We both work, and getting to Slovakia is like a 20-hour journey from here.
I think, more realistically, we could just keep the place and treat it as a little getaway to escape to. There is really lovely nature nearby and I don’t have any other properties, so there is merit psychologically to knowing that there is a place that’s home, even if it is halfway across the world.
There needs to be more dialogue between parents and children about inheritances
When it comes to inheriting property, I think there needs to be more dialogue between the parent and the child of, “What do you actually want to do?”
I think a lot of parents have this assumption that leaving a kid the property is the ultimate goal; we’ve made it, we’ve paid off the mortgage, we have this home, and now the kid gets it. Those days are kind of gone.
We don’t live in a world where everyone grows up and lives in the same town or city as their parents. We live in a really global economy. People are moving, people are more transient, and the world has become smaller. It’s also become a lot more expensive, and home ownership isn’t what it used to be.
Parents need to recognize that the world we’re in is very different, and Millennials are not an anxious generation for no reason. We have a lot of stresses. It makes more sense to have a dialogue with your kid around what they want.
I wish parents would ask, “What do you want? Where are you at with your life, and what kind of inheritance makes sense?”
Is it, in fact, a lump sum of cash, because maybe you’re a busy entrepreneur and you don’t have time to sell? Maybe you actually would prefer the parent to sell, which is annoying for the parents, but maybe the kid would prefer that.
Thank you for the inheritance — that’s very generous. But I think quite a lot of kids would probably say it’s not worth it. Either enjoy the money, mom and dad, or cash out, downsize, and just give us a down payment or something.
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Electric Daisy Carnival (EDC) is one of the most iconic electronic dance music festivals in the world, known for its immersive production, neon‑lit stages, carnival attractions, and nonstop performances by top DJs across genres such as house, techno, trance, and dubstep. Organized by Insomniac Events, EDC began in the late 1990s as a warehouse party in Los Angeles and has since grown into a global cultural phenomenon that draws hundreds of thousands of fans each year. Its flagship event, EDC Las Vegas, transforms the Las Vegas Motor Speedway into a multi‑day playground of music, art installations, carnival rides, and interactive experiences that celebrate peace, love, unity, and respect — the festival’s core PLUR ethos. Keep reading to learn how to get EDC tickets for you and your group.
In addition to Las Vegas, EDC has expanded globally with editions in places like Orlando, Mexico City, Medellín, Seoul, China, and Thailand, building a worldwide community united by electronic music and immersive live experiences. Whether you’re chasing the pulsing beats at Kinetic Field, exploring interactive art at Neon Garden, or simply soaking up the electric sky with other fans, EDC remains a bucket‑list festival for electronic music lovers.
Find the US EDC schedule below, including the Las Vegas and Orlando events. Don’t forget to head to StubHub and Vivid Seats to reserve your passes before prices increase.
EDC 2026 festival dates
May 15, 2026 — Las Vegas, NV at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (EDC Las Vegas, 3‑day festival)
May 16, 2026 — Las Vegas, NV at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (EDC Las Vegas, Day 2)
May 17, 2026 — Las Vegas, NV at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (EDC Las Vegas, Day 3)
November 6, 2026 — Orlando, FL at Tinker Field (EDC Orlando, Day 1)
November 7, 2026 — Orlando, FL at Tinker Field (EDC Orlando, Day 2)
November 8, 2026 — Orlando, FL at Tinker Field (EDC Orlando, Day 3)
If you’re planning to attend EDC Las Vegas, resale prices can run the gamut depending on what kind of experience you want. On StubHub, you’ll find general admission and single‑day passes starting around roughly $337, which gets you into the carnival grounds and most stages. But for those chasing the full VIP or multi‑day experience, StubHub listings extend into the high end — with some passes priced above $2,000 or more for premium weekend packages and exclusive perks like fast‑lane access and VIP lounges.
Vivid Seats shows a similar spread; according to recent ticket listings, EDC Las Vegas tickets can start in the low‑to‑mid‑$300s for individual festival days or basic weekend passes, and climb toward the mid‑to‑high hundreds or beyond as you look at GA+ or more deluxe options. Prices on Vivid Seats are backed by their 100% Buyer Guarantee, giving buyers confidence that their resale ticket will be valid and delivered on time.
For the EDC Orlando edition (held in November 2026 at Tinker Field), resale ticket pricing can be a bit more approachable for many fans. Vivid Seats lists Orlando passes at prices starting around roughly $298—$387 for single days or full weekend access, giving fans a more budget‑friendly way to experience the festival’s lights and top electronic acts.
While StubHub also has listings for Orlando, the range there tends to be similar — more moderately priced than Vegas, since the Orlando festival often doesn’t draw quite as massive crowds or command as high resale premiums. As with Vegas, StubHub’s FanProtect Guarantee helps ensure you’re buying a legitimate ticket that will get you in the gates.
What is the EDC Las Vegas lineup?
While there are dozens of DJs and artists performing at the Speedway this year, highlights for the 2026 EDC lineup include:
Airlines are expecting more than 30 million passengers during the Thanksgiving travel period.
KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI / AFP via Getty Images
Major airlines are making it free to change your travel plans ahead of a huge winter storm.
The storm is expected to affect areas from the Southwest to New England.
Here are some tips in case your flight schedule is disrupted.
Major airlines are making it free to change your flights ahead of a dangerous winter storm.
Southwest Airlines, American Airlines, United Airlines, and JetBlue are waiving rebooking fees for flights to and from affected regions this weekend.
If your travel plans this weekend include major cities such as Dallas, Austin, Oklahoma City, Nashville, Atlanta, Charlotte, Washington, DC, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York City, and Boston, you may want to contact your airline to avoid prolonged delays or cancellations at the airport. The National Weather Service is warning that more than 230 million Americans will be affected, from the Southwest to New England.
Even if you won’t change your plans, your flight may still get canceled. Delta Air Lines said Thursday it is canceling flights at airports in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Tennessee, citing safety concerns caused by heavy snow, sleet, and freezing rain. The airline will also be bringing in cold-weather specialists.
As of Thursday evening, based on the Misery Map, which tracks real-time flight disruptions, there hasn’t been a spike in delays or cancellations.
Based on recent storms, such as the one that hit over Thanksgiving and coincided with the end of the government shutdown, mass cancellations may be inevitable. So it’s good to know your passenger rights and your options when things don’t go according to plan.
Know your rights as a passenger
Opt into automatic flight updates via text or email so you don’t miss a flight delay or cancellation notification.
JOSEPH PREZIOSO/AFP via Getty Images
If your flight is canceled and you choose not to rebook, the airline is legally required to provide you with a cash refund — not a voucher or credit.
However, things are different for delays. The Trump Administration recently killed a proposal that would have required airlines to compensate passengers for long delays, so flyers largely have to rely on airline goodwill or their credit cards to get anything for the inconvenience.
Some airlines have committed to providing accommodations, transportation, and food during a controllable overnight delay or cancellation, as outlined in the Airline Customer Service Dashboard.
Controllable disruptions include issues such as maintenance or crew staffing. Frontier Airlines is the only carrier that does not offer accommodations in the event of a controllable overnight delay or cancellation, but it will provide a meal voucher.
It still doesn’t hurt to ask for a meal or hotel voucher when a non-controllable issue arises, such as the weather. The worst they can say is no.
Use your airline’s mobile app to change or cancel your flight
United mobile app.
United Airlines
During disruptions, airlines often allow you to make changes via their mobile app or website, rather than waiting on clogged phone lines or in long customer service lines.
If this isn’t an option, try an online chat. Carriers like Delta Air Lines allow you to text a representative for help.
You can put yourself in the virtual queue and wait in line at the airport, potentially upping your chances of speaking with an agent sooner.
Here are the phone numbers for each airline:
Alaska: 1-800-252-7522 or text 82008
Allegiant: 1-702-505-8888
American: 1-800-433-7300
Avelo: 1-346-616-9500
Breeze: No phone number to call, but you can text the airline at 501-273-3931.
Delta: 1-800-221-1212
Frontier: No phone number. The best way to contact Frontier is via online chat or email.
JetBlue: 1-800-538-2583
Southwest: 1-800-435-9792
Spirit: 1-855-728-3555
Sun Country: 1-651-905-2737
United: 1-800-864-8331
Check if you have travel insurance through your credit card
Passport and Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card
Evgenia Parajanian/Shutterstock
Travel credit cards, such as the Chase Sapphire Reserve and the American Express Platinum, offer built-in insurance that reimburses travelers for hotel, meal, and transportation expenses incurred due to certain flight disruptions.
The weather is typically covered. For this to work, the traveler would have needed to book their flight with that travel card.
If your credit card doesn’t offer travel insurance, it may be worthwhile to purchase a separate trip insurance policy before traveling. This type of insurance can help reimburse costs you might lose due to flight problems, such as prepaid hotel stays or cruise bookings.
However, you must purchase this insurance before any travel disruptions occur — once you know a flight might be affected, it’s likely too late.
An Indian broker reacts while trading at a stock brokerage firm in Mumbai, January 22, 2008. Shares from Sydney to London sank for a second day on Tuesday, dragging commodity prices with them and promising similar falls for Wall Street as investors abandoned assets exposed to the risk of a global economic slowdown.
REUTERS/Arko Datta
Quant funds have had a tough start to the year.
The average quant started the year down 1%, according to Goldman Sachs.
Managers such as Renaissance Technologies and Schonfeld have lost money in computer-run strategies.
2026 has so far resembled the worst parts of 2025 at many quant hedge fund managers.
The beginning of the year had the worst stretch of losses since early October, according to a Goldman Sachs report, and several big-name managers did not avoid the pain.
HSBC’s Hedge Weekly report states that Renaissance Technologies’ two largest funds lost roughly 4% each through January 9. A person familiar with Schonfeld said the manager’s quant-only strategy was down 3.9% through January 16.
Engineers Gate was down around 6% midway through the month, a person familiar with the matter said.
Renaissance, Schonfeld, and Engineers Gate declined to comment.
The average computer-run equity fund was down 1% through January 15, according to Goldman’s note. The losses were mainly driven by US stocks, which have been choppy to start the year thanks to trade proposals floated by President Donald Trump’s administration. Funds crowding into similar trades have also hurt returns, Goldman notes.
Systematic long-short equities strategies in the US have had a tough start to the year.
Goldman Sachs FICC and Equities and Prime Services
Performance on January 16 — not captured in the Goldman note — was especially bad for many quant funds, industry insiders said.
Last year, systematic funds had several extended periods of losses, including a stint in June and July that one consultant described to Business Insider as “a long, slow bleed.” Funds gradually recouped summer losses, but ran into trouble again in early October when crowded trades, a momentum sell-off, and inflated junk stocks led to drawdowns.
While funds again rebounded from those losses, the average quant returned 7.7% last year, according to hedge fund research firm PivotalPath, less than the average fund and the S&P 500’s 2025 gain.
Quant performance in January is off to a worse start than the deep drawdown last summer.
Goldman Sachs FICC and Equities and Prime Services
PivotalPath flagged equity quant crowding as an investor concern in a January report, noting that spikes in crowding measures have preceded previous drawdowns in systematic trading strategies.
Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens as Troy and Gabriella in “High School Musical.”
Disney
For the 20th anniversary of “High School Musical,” Business Insider spoke to director Kenny Ortega.
Ortega revealed how the cast’s tight-knit relationships behind the scenes helped shape the movie.
Though he’s not attached to a fourth movie, Ortega said he’d be open to getting the cast and crew back together.
Do you remember what you were doing on this day 20 years ago? If you were an avid Disney Channel viewer, chances are, the answer is living and breathing “High School Musical.”
In January 2006, a direct-to-TV movie musical starring a cast of largely unknown teenagers set a single-night audience record on the Disney Channel. It was such a hit that the house of mouse promptly doubled down with repeat screenings, sing-along versions, piles of merchandise, and a live concert tour that packed arenas across the country. By the time the year was out, the soundtrack had become the top-selling album of 2006.
No one could have known that a Disney Channel Original Movie would eventually become a hit trilogy and multibillion-dollar franchise, but director Kenny Ortega was never in the business of half-heartedness. He’d already made a name for himself as a choreographer (“Dirty Dancing,” “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” Madonna’s “Material Girl”) and a director (“Newsies,” “Hocus Pocus”). He’d signed on to choreograph and direct “High School Musical” because he recognized his younger self in the story — but also because he saw potential for an ambitious production, complete with original songs and colorful dance sequences.
Ortega successfully won support from Disney Channel executives to turn the original script into a “full-on musical,” which, at the time, was not a popular format for the network.
“The musical was dead, according to the industry,” Ortega told Business Insider. “The budget came in, and I was like, how the heck am I going to be able to do this?”
With only about a month to shoot and a few million dollars to spend, it was crucial to ensure that each piece to the puzzle fit perfectly.
“We made every dollar stretch and every minute mean something,” Ortega said. “We didn’t waste any time. Nothing ended up on the cutting room floor.”
Ashley Tisdale, Corbin Bleu, Lucas Grabeel, Vanessa Hudgens, Zac Efron, and Monique Coleman on the set of “The Today Show” on March 30, 2006.
Jemal Countess/Getty Images
Ortega and his team eventually landed on Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens to play Troy Bolton and Gabriella Montez, a basketball star and a whiz kid who discover an unlikely love for theater. The high schoolers resolve to follow their dreams and, of course, fall in love in the process. Offscreen, Efron and Hudgens followed suit, dating for several years.
As “High School Musical” celebrates its 20th anniversary this week, Business Insider spoke with Ortega about the movie’s key casting decisions, the actors’ real-life relationships, and the potential for another sequel.
The sibling dynamic between Ashley Tisdale and Lucas Grabeel led Ortega to make their characters siblings
Lucas Grabeel and Ashley Tisdale as Ryan and Sharpay in “High School Musical.”
Disney
Is it true that you wanted to run the auditions for “High School Musical” like Broadway auditions?
I did. And I got in a little trouble for that in the beginning.
I remember Judy Taylor, who I adore, who was head of casting at Disney Channel for many, many years, came to me during our big final testing. We had about 25 and 30 kids for the finals. And then we narrowed it down to about 18. And I had them in the room for about six hours — they were playing basketball, they were dancing, they were singing, they were improvising. I was flipping them around and switching them around and looking at the chemistry that was in the room and looking at the promise that was in front of me.
The next day, Judy came back and said, “The agents are flipping out. They want to know what the heck’s going on over here. These kids have other auditions, other people to meet, and you’re holding them ransom.”
But then the next day, Judy came back to me and said that Zac Efron’s agent called her and said, “Zac said it’s the best audition he’s ever been to.” And that even if he didn’t get the part, it was worth being a part of the auditioning.
It was such fun. The kids in that room with me were having an absolute ball. I don’t think they’d ever been put through any kind of an audition like that, being West Coast actors and not East Coast theater actors. I put them through the mill.
Were any of the main cast members almost passed over because there were concerns about their stamina, or their singing and dancing abilities?
There were questions. I mean, I think everybody saw the chemistry between Zac and Vanessa from the very, very beginning and knew that it was palpable and that that was going to be hard to top, but there were also concerns about whether they could handle the responsibility. They were young. Vanessa was 15, Zac was 16, and we were putting them in a full-on musical that they had to carry.
Fortunately, we also had the support of Ashley Tisdale and all the other brilliant [actors], Corbin Bleu and Lucas Grabeel and Monique Coleman. And beyond that, with people like Alyson Reed and Bart Johnson. And so we had them surrounded with a lot of great energy and intelligence, and we did it.
But no, I don’t think anyone really was averse to any of the choices that we made. It was hard for me to get Ashley because she was already a big star for Disney Channel, and I think they were priming her for her own movie. And I was like, “Please!” I was crazy in love with what I knew she could do with this role, and she was delicious to work with.
Ashley Tisdale as Sharpay in “High School Musical.”
Disney
I can’t imagine anyone else playing Sharpay.
Honestly, every day she brought something to the party, to the game. There were days where she would come in and she would say to me, “Don’t say anything! Don’t say anything! Can I show you something?” She was just really an improvisational genius, and she really had her arms wrapped around Sharpay, and we had the most fun developing that role together and working with [screenwriter] Peter Barsocchini, of course.
You know, in the beginning, Ryan and Sharpay weren’t brother and sister. They weren’t twins. They were just two characters in the high school that were both in the theater department. But the chemistry that they had together in the auditions, I said, “I think we should make them twins.” I said, “They’ve got something here that I think we could have a heck of a lot of fun with.” And everybody agreed, and we moved forward with that idea.
This is an interesting point, because Ryan and Sharpay are auditioning to play a couple in the musical, are they not?
Yes. [Laughs.] We didn’t change that. I don’t think we thought it through. I think we were a little busy.
Did any of the actors butt heads behind the scenes?
No. I mean, there was some really fun rapport between Lucas and Ashley that they incorporated into their work.
There was this wonderful kind of tug of war between the two of them. And then when the lights came on, and the cameras were rolling, it was just like they were onstage. They put it on.
We felt that. We saw that. We saw them bickering or challenging one another, and we just found it to be really great. And I didn’t have to ask them to be anything. All I had to do was just turn on the camera and get out of the way.
I was there to guide and direct and suggest and mold, but these kids brought a lot. They really did that. They studied, they cared. Day one, Zac said, “Don’t worry about time. Don’t worry about working us, Kenny. We all committed to do this. Let’s make it worth something. Let’s make this worth us all being here.”
Zac was initially really helpful in me sort of raising the bar on what I could expect from these young people. Because before that, other than “Newsies,” I hadn’t been really experienced in working with kids that young.
Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens lobbied for their characters to kiss in the first movie
“High School Musical” won outstanding children’s program at the 2006 Emmys.
Mathew Imaging/FilmMagic for Academy of Television Arts and Sciences
Was there any concern about Zac and Vanessa potentially breaking up during the trilogy?
Well, I think you quietly have concern because you know that that could impact a kind of energy and comfort. And especially with younger kids, you want to make sure that it doesn’t change the sort of climate and ease that we walk into every day. But it didn’t weigh heavily on me. They were all friendly. They all got along. They all enjoyed each other’s company. There was no one that was over here and everybody over here. They really all enjoyed each other’s company. They were a tight-knit group of kids all through it. They were serving of one another, helpful to one another. And I don’t remember that weighing on me.
Certainly, no one said, “Hey, be careful.” No one really brought it up. And I wasn’t aware that they even had a kind of romance, a kind of care for one another in that capacity, until almost the end of the first movie. And I thought it was so silly that I didn’t pick up on it, but I was a little busy.
Was there a version of the movie in which Troy and Gabriella do kiss at the end?
I don’t think at the end of one, no. I don’t think we wanted that. And not because we knew that there would be a two. I just think that we felt that that was something that we could all hope and wish for, but that it wasn’t time for it.
I think Zac and Vanessa wanted it, if I’m not mistaken. I think both of them were like, “We could do a little kiss. I think that it would end the movie in a really lovely place.” And we said, “You already have. You’ve already ended the movie in a really, really lovely place. There’s all kinds of promise about where these two kids are going.”
Troy Bolton’s voice was originally a mix of Zac Efron’s and Drew Seeley’s, but Efron did all his own singing for the sequels
Zac Efron as Troy in “High School Musical.”
Disney
Zac has gone on to do other musicals like “Hairspray” and “The Greatest Showman,” which is maybe a surprise, given that he didn’t do all his vocals in the first movie.
He did part of it. A lot of people don’t know that. A lot of people think that he was lip-syncing the whole movie. He wasn’t.
Drew [Seeley] did an incredible job. Drew’s an amazing composer and lyricist and performer and actor and singer, and he helped us. But because the music for one was written before we had Zac, the music wasn’t written for Zac. And so there was some of the music there that was just out of his range. But he did a lot of it. And then Drew filled in some of the higher-register parts. But “High School Musical 2” and three is all Zac.
Whose decision was that? Was it Zac coming to you, saying, “I want to do the singing now,” or was it your call?
We all wanted him to do it because we all wanted everybody to be doing their own work. And it was hard for him. It was a challenge, but God bless him, he accepted the role, and he went along with us, and he sang all through all those scenes where you see him, he’s singing along with the track.
When we knew that we were going to make a second, it was on everybody’s plate. We’re going to write the songs now, knowing Zac’s voice, knowing Zac’s range and register, so he can deliver all the music for the next movie.
Ortega would sign on to do a fourth ‘High School Musical’ if the cast and crew were all in this together
The cast of “High School Musical” performs “We’re All in This Together.”
Disney
In your mind, would Troy and Gabriella have made it as a couple? Twenty years later, are they still together?
Well, that would be unfair of me. I wouldn’t want to get in the way of Peter Barsocchini being able to write a fourth movie, if that’s the plan. So I wouldn’t want to throw anything out there, because as a director, I would want to be open to either way, whether they stayed together or whether they didn’t stay together, that if I was fortunate enough to be invited to come back and do it again and everyone wanted to, that I would be open to looking at whatever Peter wanted to put in front of us as what he would think the future brought for those characters.
I think all of us hope that they would be together, but maybe not necessarily as a couple, maybe just connected in some kind of wonderful, soulful, spiritual way. Friends, even. Who knows? We’ll see. I don’t know if it’s going to happen, but it’s been talked about.
So you’re not connected to a fourth movie right now?
No, no, I’m not. No one has reached out to me and said, “We’re doing it.” But I know that the fans have been asking, could we do some kind of coming back together, some kind of a reunion show? And hey, I’d just be happy with a nice dinner with everybody present and with no rush to get out after dessert.
But for the fans, I hope we could do something. I think that would be lovely. They’re deserving. They’ve been amazing. They’ve changed all of our lives.
This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.
TikTok announced on Thursday that it had closed a deal that will establish a joint venture for parts of its US business with a group of investors.
Three managing investors will each hold a 15% stake in the new venture: Oracle, private equity firm Silver Lake, and Abu Dhabi-based investment firm MGX.
ByteDance, TikTok’s owner, will maintain a 19.9% minority stake — the maximum allowed by the divest-or-ban law that spurred TikTok’s sale. The remaining 35.1% will be controlled by a consortium of investors, including affiliates of some existing ByteDance investors.
Some individuals are also getting a piece of TikTok US, including the family office of Michael Dell, the founder of Dell Technologies.
The new TikTok US joint venture said it’s appointing a seven-person board of directors, which will include TikTok CEO Shou Chew, as well as representatives from investors like Oracle, Silver Lake, and MGX.
Meanwhile, Adam Presser, a TikTok trust and safety executive, will act as CEO of TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC.
While the company did not provide a valuation for the joint venture in its announcement, the Trump administration said in September that the entity was worth around $14 billion.
The goal for the new joint venture is to secure US user data, trust and safety, and content moderation.
“The safeguards provided by the joint venture will also cover CapCut, and Lemon8, and a portfolio of other apps and websites in the US,” the company said in its January announcement.
ByteDance, meanwhile, will continue to oversee key commercial areas like e-commerce, advertising, and marketing.
Here are the key players in TikTok’s US business going forward:
Larry Ellison’s Oracle will have a 15% stake in the new joint venture
Oracle chairman and cofounder Larry Ellison briefly eclipsed Elon Musk as the world’s richest man this week.
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
Software giant Oracle will take a 15% stake in TikTok’s US joint venture.
Kenneth Glueck, an EVP at Oracle who advises the company’s CEO, will join the board of directors.
Prior to the joint venture deal, Oracle was already working closely with TikTok’s US Data Security division (USDS). The company has stored US TikTok users’ data for years.
Larry Ellison, who is also a financial participant in a bidding war for Warner Bros. Discovery’s business, is the chairman and cofounder of Oracle and a longtime Trump ally.
Oracle, which currently works with TikTok on data security, is expected to remain its “trusted security partner” tasked with safeguarding “sensitive US user data,” Chew wrote in a December memo to staffers.
TikTok’s new US owners will retrain the content recommendation algorithm on US user data “to ensure the content feed is free from outside manipulation,” per the December memo.
Oracle did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Abu Dhabi’s MGX is one of three ‘managing investors’ taking over TikTok US
Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan is the chairman of MGX.
EVELYN HOCKSTEIN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
MGX is a state-owned investment firm in Abu Dhabi.
It will also take a 15% stake in the new TikTok entity as one of three managing investors.
The firm is focused on AI.
Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, a member of Abu Dhabi’s royal ruling family, is the firm’s chairman. The fund participated in OpenAI’s $6.6 billion investment round in 2024.
David Scott, MGX’s chief strategy and safety officer, will serve on the joint venture’s board of directors and security committee, according to TikTok’s blog post announcing the joint venture.
MGX did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Private equity firm Silver Lake will also hold 15% of TikTok US
Egon Durban is the co-CEO of Silver Lake.
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Silver Lake is a tech-focused private equity firm.
The firm will take a 15% stake in the new TikTok entity.
Its current investments include Klarna, Carta, Dell Technologies, Genies, and Waymo, per the firm’s website. Previous investments include Airbnb, Twitter, and Tesla.
Egon Durban and Greg Mondre both act as co-CEOs and managing partners at the private equity firm.
Durban will join the TikTok US joint venture’s board of directors.
Silver Lake did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Michael Dell’s family office is one of several new investors
President Trump previously mentioned Michael Dell as an individual involved in the TikTok deal.
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Dell Technologies founder Michael Dell is also involved in the deal.
Dell’s family office is one of several new investors TikTok listed as being part of a consortium. It’s not clear how much control Dell’s investment will have.
In September, Trump said Dell would be involved in the deal.
Seven other investors will be part of the consortium
Julia and Yuri Milner will be participating investors via the investment arm of their foundation.
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In addition to Michael Dell’s family office, TikTok named seven other investors as being part of the joint venture. Some are tied to existing ByteDance investors, such as Vastmere Strategic Investments, an affiliate of Susquehanna International Group.
Here are the seven other investors:
Vastmere Strategic Investments, LLC, an affiliate of Susquehanna International Group, LLP, a ByteDance investor and global trading company.
Revolution, an investment firm where Vice President JD Vance previously worked.
Merritt Way, LLC, which is controlled and managed by partners of the investment group Dragoneer. Dragoneer previously invested in ByteDance.
Via Nova, an affiliate of existing ByteDance investor General Atlantic.
Virgo LI, Inc., the investment arm of a foundation established by Russia-born Israeli tech entrepreneur and investor Yuri Milner, alongside his wife, Julia. Milner founded DST Global, a ByteDance investor.
NJJ Capital, the family office of Xavier Niel, a French billionaire who sits on ByteDance’s board of directors.
Alpha Wave Partners, an investment firm headquartered in New York that has invested in companies like SpaceX, OpenAI, and MrBeast’s Beast Industries
ByteDance will have 19.9% of the venture and control key business lines
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ByteDance will own 19.9% of the new joint venture, the most it can legally hold according to the terms of the divest-or-ban law.
The company will also retain control key business areas like TikTok Shop, advertising, and marketing, according to Chew’s December memo.
In January, the company began splitting its US workers into different entities based on whether they would continue to work under ByteDance or move under the USDS joint venture, Business Insider first reported.