EC & AI Commerce News Digest (January 24, 2026)

Today's Top News

TikTok Continues in US with New Joint Venture Structure

TikTok finalizes deal to form new U.S. entity to avoid ban

ByteDance agrees to establish US joint venture, confirming TikTok's continued US service

On January 22, ByteDance reached a final agreement to establish a joint venture for TikTok's continued operation in the US. The new company, "TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC," will be 80.1% owned by US and international investors, with ByteDance holding 19.9%.

Major investors include Oracle, Silver Lake, and MGX each holding 15%, with eight companies including Dell CEO Michael Dell's investment office and Susquehanna International Group holding 35%. Adam Presser, who served as TikTok's head of operations, trust and safety, will become CEO of the new company, with current TikTok CEO Shou Chew joining the board.

Both US and Chinese governments have approved the deal, confirming TikTok's continued service for over 200 million US users. The content recommendation algorithm will be protected in Oracle's US cloud and retrained and tested on US user data.

Agentic Commerce

IBM Explains "What Is Agentic Commerce?"

What Is Agentic Commerce?

IBM publishes explanation of agentic commerce concept and consumer research findings

In January 2026, IBM published an agentic commerce explainer page. Agentic commerce is an approach to buying and selling where AI agents research, negotiate, and complete purchases on behalf of consumers or businesses, often without direct human intervention.

According to IBM Institute for Business Value research, 45% of consumers already use AI in some part of their purchasing process. Usage of AI applications like ChatGPT has surged 62% over the past two years, signaling the arrival of the agentic commerce era.

IBM predicts that AI agents will handle at least 50% of certain roles by 2026, noting that organizations building foundations this year will gain competitive advantage heading into 2027.

Yottaa Launches Industry-First MCP Server for eCommerce

Yottaa Launches Industry-First MCP Server Purpose-Built for eCommerce Performance Intelligence

Yottaa announces the industry's first MCP server designed for eCommerce performance

Yottaa, an eCommerce performance optimization company, has announced the industry's first MCP (Model Context Protocol) server designed specifically for eCommerce.

MCP is a protocol that enables AI agents to share understanding of business context (products, inventory, pricing, policies, customer intent). Yottaa's solution implements MCP specifically for eCommerce performance intelligence.

According to the company's Web Performance Index, reducing LCP (Largest Contentful Paint) from 2.5 seconds to 1.3 seconds increases conversions by 50%, and reducing INP (Interaction to Next Paint) from 200ms to 50ms improves it by approximately 14%. With retailers using an average of over 40 third-party apps that account for about 60% of total load time, AI-powered performance optimization is becoming increasingly important.

Full Article: Yottaa Launches Industry-First MCP Server for eCommerce

Ballerine Launches Agentic Commerce Governance Platform

Ballerine Launches Trusted Agentic Commerce Governance Platform

Ballerine announces governance platform for agent-driven commerce

Ballerine, a fintech risk and compliance platform, announced its "Trusted Agentic Commerce Governance Platform" on January 15.

As AI agents transform how products are discovered and purchased, merchants face new operational and policy challenges. This platform is a real-time operations solution for PSPs (Payment Service Providers) and PayFacs to prepare and manage merchants for agent-driven commerce.

It performs eligibility assessments, policy enforcement, and continuous monitoring of inventory and behavioral signals, generating structured audit-ready evidence for every agent-mediated transaction. Ballerine has also received Mastercard's MMSP (Merchant Monitoring Service Provider) certification.

Full Article: Ballerine Launches Agentic Commerce Governance Platform

Corporate News & Partnerships

Amazon to Cut 14,000 Additional Jobs

Amazon to Cut 14000 Corporate Jobs in Second Round of Layoffs

Amazon to cut approximately 14,000 corporate employees starting January 27

Amazon is expected to cut approximately 14,000 corporate employees between January 26 and 27. This follows the approximately 14,000 cuts implemented in October 2025, with the overall plan potentially reaching 30,000 by May.

Affected departments span AWS, retail/eCommerce, Prime Video, and HR. CEO Andy Jassy explained this is to "reduce management layers that grew too large during rapid growth and speed up decision-making," emphasizing that AI and cost reduction are not the primary drivers.

Affected employees will receive 90 days of salary and benefits, with priority given to finding new positions within the company.

Summary

Today's biggest story is TikTok's confirmed continuation in the US. With ByteDance maintaining a 19.9% stake while an Oracle-led US joint venture is established, a social commerce platform with over 200 million users will be preserved.

Amazon announced 14,000 additional layoffs, with the overall plan potentially reaching 30,000 by May.

Agentic commerce infrastructure is also accelerating, with Yottaa announcing the industry's first MCP server for eCommerce performance AI and Ballerine launching a governance platform. 2026 appears to be the year when the transition to "an era where AI agents do the shopping" begins in earnest.