President Biden has officially signed a law that will force ByteDance to either divest TikTok or remove the app from U.S.-based devices. Now, it’s time for ByteDance to consider its options. The Beijing-based tech company must answer some burning questions: Will it choose “divest” or “ban”? And if it goes with the former option, how much money can it make by spinning off TikTok?
As the dust settles on the newly passed law, the Wall Street Journal is putting forth several estimates for TikTok’s value. According to a recent WSJ report, one of TikTok’s potential buyers offered a “starting price” of $20 million for the app’s U.S. operations. The list of suitors who have reportedly assembled investor groups in hopes of acquiring TikTok includes film financier and Trump ally Steven Mnuchin as well as former Activision boss Bobby Kotick.
Higher estimates for TikTok’s value could push the app’s price tag as high as $100 billion. According to the WSJ, that number has been thrown around by ByteDance executives, who believe that TikTok’s global operations account for half of ByteDance’s overall value. The only way a sale would reach nine digits is if the buyer acquired all of TikTok, not just its American operations. A significant portion of ByteDance’s profits come from TikTok’s expansive ecommerce presence in regions like Southeast Asia.
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Access to TikTok’s prized recommendation algorithm would also increase the price tag, but according to The Information, ByteDance is exploring sale scenarios that would leave the algorithm out of the transaction. The TikTok parent company has downplayed those rumors; in a statement published on the Chinese social platform Toutiao, ByteDance denied claims that it is exploring a TikTok sale.
Instead of selling TikTok, ByteDance is poised to defend the app’s U.S. operations in what figures to be a lengthy court battle. If that effort fails, the Chinese tech giant has indicated that it would rather take TikTok out of the U.S. than agree to a divestment deal.
