Monday Briefing: TikTok Got Its Deal. Now What?

James Murray
December 22, 2025

Good morning, Happy Monday, and an early Merry Christmas. James here. TikTok got its deal. Omnicom swallowed IPG and started cutting. And a Reuters investigation revealed Meta has been making billions from scam ads. Not a quiet end to the year. Let's get into what matters before the holiday fog sets in.

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The Lead: TikTok Got Its Deal. Now the Hard Part Starts

After years of threats, extensions, and political theater, TikTok finally signed the deal that keeps it alive in America. On December 18, ByteDance agreed to a U.S. joint venture giving American investors majority control (ABC News).

What happened: Oracle, Silver Lake, and UAE-based MGX will each take 15% stakes, while ByteDance retains 19.9%. The joint venture gets control over the recommendation algorithm (which will be retrained on U.S. data only), content moderation, and data storage now housed in Oracle's cloud. The deal is set to close January 22, 2026.

Why CMOs should care: TikTok's 170 million U.S. users aren't going anywhere. But neither is the uncertainty. China hasn't approved the deal. ByteDance's board hasn't signed off. And questions remain about whether the terms actually satisfy last year's congressional requirements. If you've been hedging TikTok investment, keep hedging.

The take: The ownership drama never really threatened TikTok's cultural relevance. It did, however, threatened your ability to plan around it. Now you can exhale, but don't mistake a signed deal for a closed deal. The prudent move: continue diversifying your short-form video strategy while leaning into TikTok for what it does best. Just don't bet the farm on January certainty.

Platform Watch

Meta's ad fraud problem is worse than you thought. A Reuters investigation found Meta generated roughly $18 billion in China ad revenue last year with nearly $3 billion tied to scams, illegal gambling, and prohibited content (Fortune). Internal documents show Meta labeled China its "top scam exporting nation" while maintaining a 0.15% revenue cap on fraud-fighting losses. Former integrity chief Rob Leathern called the findings "disappointing."

YouTube is making creator partnerships easier. The platform rebranded its brand-initiated video linking as "Brand Partner Access," giving approved brands direct access to performance metrics on sponsored content through Google Ads. Thankfully no more screenshot sharing (MediaPost). YouTube also launched comments on Shorts ads and expanded Shorts to mobile web.

Omnicom-IPG is now one company—and 4,000 jobs are gone. The $13.5 billion merger closed November 26, creating the world's largest ad holding company with $25 billion in revenue. FCB, DDB, and MullenLowe are being retired as agency brands. The message to CMOs: unless you spend $100M+ annually on media, expect deprioritized service (Marketing Brew). Seven in ten marketing executives say they're worried the restructuring will harm their business.

The Reading List

"Mark Ritson's Top 10 Marketing Moments of 2025" — From Cracker Barrel's logo disaster to Starbucks' positioning reset, Ritson's annual lecture is required viewing. The Tylenol "Fabian strategy" case alone is worth your time. (Adweek)
"How the Best Marketing Campaigns of 2025 Navigated Uncertain Times" — Marketing Dive's year-end analysis. Chili's, American Eagle, and Dove topped the list. The pattern: nostalgia, celebrity, and value messaging beat abstract purpose. (Marketing Dive)
"The 7 Media Trends That Defined 2025" — AI restructured workflows, search traffic declined, events surged, creators professionalized. A useful frame for 2026 planning. (Adweek)
"As Omnicom Subsumes IPG, a New Reality Emerges" — The industry is splitting into whales and minnows. The homogenous middle ground is collapsing. (Marketing Brew)

Musical Chairs

Intel appointed Annie Shea Weckesser as SVP and Chief Marketing and Communications Officer on December 15 (Intel Newsroom). She joins from SambaNova—a company Intel is reportedly in talks to acquire—and will lead the newly integrated global marketing and communications org.

Hinge promoted CMO Jackie Jantos to CEO in December, succeeding founder Justin McLeod (Adweek). When the CMO becomes the CEO, it tells you where the board thinks growth comes from.

Sonos announced that Colleen DeCourcy will join as head of marketing in January to lead a brand turnaround following the company's app update disaster (Ad Age). She previously spent two decades at TBWA and W+K.

One More Thing

2025 was the year the structures changed. Omnicom-IPG. TikTok's ownership. Meta's fraud reckoning. The platforms and holding companies you've relied on look different now than they did in January.

The question for 2026 isn't whether you can adapt to change—it's whether you've built the internal clarity to decide what matters when everything is shifting at once.

Back next Monday. Enjoy the quiet between the emails.

—James