President Donald Trump said Sunday he was negotiating with four different possible buyers for TikTok’s US business and that a deal for the social video app could come “soon.”
“We’re dealing with four different groups, and a lot of people want it,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday. He didn’t specify the contenders nor say which way he was leaning, instead saying “all four are good.”
ByteDance Ltd.’s TikTok faces a deadline of April 5 to strike a deal for its US operations — or be banned from the country under a bipartisan law passed during the Biden administration. The US is by far its most important market — ByteDance operates a sister service, Douyin, at home in China — and TikTok US was estimated to be worth as much as $50 billion last year.
Last week, Trump said he would be open to extending the deadline again if necessary, but thought a deal was possible in the next month. He already pushed back the initial Jan. 19 date, averting a prolonged TikTok blackout, and has repeatedly signalled he’s open to striking a deal. As he’s tried to broker a sale, the president’s said he believes the US should be granted a 50 percent stake in the company as a condition.
Beijing-based ByteDance has not indicated any interest in selling off its US operations, though chief executive officer Shou Chew met with Trump at Mar-a-Lago in December and attended the inauguration earlier this year. The company has made efforts to allay national security concerns among US lawmakers so as to be able to continue operating in the country.
Closely held ByteDance is now valued at more than $400 billion by key investors like SoftBank Group Corp. The company is buying back employee shares at a $312 billion valuation, showing confidence in an expansion strategy that includes a growing presence in e-commerce that leverages the popularity of its video platforms. That’s a big jump from just over a year ago, despite the uncertainty shrouding its prized US business.
China’s government would also need to approve any potential sale, and public pronouncements from Beijing have to date been unsupportive. Officials have been evaluating a potential option that involves Elon Musk acquiring the service in the US, though the strong preference is for TikTok to remain wholly within ByteDance, Bloomberg News reported. Musk, who already owns the X social network, has said he’s not interested.
The public bidders to date include a group led by billionaire Frank McCourt and Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, another featuring tech entrepreneur Jesse Tinsley and YouTube star MrBeast, and a merger offer by San Francisco-based Perplexity AI. Trump has also floated Oracle Corp. founder Larry Ellison’s name and TikTok has worked with Oracle on the hosting of its US users’ data.
By Kate Sullivan and Justin Sink
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