TikTok’s U.S. revenue reportedly reached a whopping $16 billion last year, and the suitors have become interested as the House of Representatives passed a bill that would mandate a total ban on Chinese-owned apps if they don’t sell within six months. The potential price of investors rose further.
Astronomical sales in the US are the highest in the company’s history; The Financial Times reportedTikTok’s U.S. operations could be worth as much as $150 billion due to the surge in revenue, said three sources familiar with the company’s finances.
ByteDance, TikTok’s Beijing-based parent company, saw revenue rise 40% to $120 billion in 2023, with most of it generated in China. By comparison, Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, generated $135 billion in revenue last year.
ByteDance reportedly recorded net profits of $28 billion last year, but TikTok itself remains unprofitable.
But concerns about the Chinese government’s influence on popular video-sharing apps led the House of Representatives to vote 352-65 on Wednesday for a bill that would protect Americans from regulatory applications by foreign adversaries.
As the Post reported, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) faces significant pressure to keep the bill up for a vote. President Joe Biden has vowed that he will sign the bill once it reaches his desk.
TikTok, its parent company ByteDance, and the Chinese government have vowed to fight any attempts to force the sale of the app. Nevertheless, a short list of potential US buyers has already emerged.
Former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who served in President Donald Trump’s cabinet when he tried to ban TikTok by executive order, said Thursday that he is forming a group of investors to buy the company.
In other news, the Wall Street Journal reported that former Activision-Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick has approached ByteDance executives about a possible acquisition.
Rising prices will make it difficult for interested U.S. buyers to scrape together the funds needed to buy TikTok.
As The Post reported earlier this week, one tech executive suggested that TikTok’s business strength and revenue growth will make it difficult for anyone but the biggest tech companies to buy the app. .
“In the metamultiple, it’s $160 billion,” the technology executive said. “Who would buy a $160 billion company? That’s tough.”
While some experts have floated large tech and social media companies such as Microsoft, Microsoft and Google as logical buyers, U.S. antitrust regulators are certain that any deal involving a company of that size will try to prevent it.
