Major shareholders in Beijing-based TikTok owner ByteDance said Wednesday they are confident they can reach an agreement to ensure the video-sharing app stays online in the U.S. “other than a sale.” He suggested there might be options. table.
TikTok received a lifeline from President Trump this week. President Trump issued an executive order delaying implementation of the nationwide ban for 75 days while China-based ByteDance searches for a U.S. buyer. The app remains online after a brief shutdown last weekend.
Bill Ford, CEO of ByteDance shareholder General Atlantic and a member of TikTok's parent company's board of directors, said it was “in everyone's interest” to follow President Trump's order and reach a deal. Ta.
“We're hoping to get started as early as this weekend in terms of negotiating what will work,” Ford said. told Axios At the annual World Economic Summit event in Davos, Switzerland.
“The Chinese government, the U.S. government, companies and boards all need to be involved in this conversation.”
Ford also said it may offer “non-sale” terms that would satisfy U.S. authorities, but did not elaborate.
He also blamed the Biden administration for not “engaging with us in a real dialogue” before the Jan. 19 deadline for the sale.
The Chinese government, which had long vowed to block any forced sale of TikTok, changed its tune this week and suggested the company should be allowed to consider a potential deal.
General Atlantic and BlackRock are among several institutional investors that jointly own 60% of ByteDance. According to the company, executives and employees each own 20%.
President Trump has vowed to “save TikTok” and said he wants the U.S. to take 50% ownership of the app as part of a joint venture, but the exact details of his plan remain unclear. It's vague.
President Trump said Tuesday that his top aide Elon Musk, who already owns social media platform X, is open to buying TikTok.
Trump also invited Larry Ellison, executive chairman of TikTok's cloud computing partner Oracle, to participate.
Other potential buyers include a joint bid floated by billionaire Frank McCourt and “Shark Tank” star Kevin O'Leary to buy the TikTok brand and zero out its algorithm in the U.S. Soil says there is a $20 billion commitment as part of the plan to rebuild it.
YouTube star Jimmy “Mr. Beast” Donaldson and Employer.com CEO Jesse Tinsley are also considering buying TikTok.
Former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has said he is interested in investing in TikTok, but has paused his bid to acquire the app outright, and former Activision Blizzard CEO ( CEO Bobby Kotick has also been said to be considering an acquisition in recent months.
Any buyer would face an uphill battle to meet the standards of a bipartisan law requiring China to sell its ownership of TikTok over U.S. national security concerns. China hawks, including Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), say all ties to the Chinese Communist Party must be completely eliminated.
US lawmakers and the federal government have argued that TikTok is effectively a spying and propaganda tool that can collect large amounts of data and influence public opinion through its algorithms.
Two days before the deadline, the Supreme Court unanimously upheld the law, rejecting ByteDance's argument that it violated the First Amendment.
As The Post reported, TikTok is still not available in app stores run by tech giants Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Amazon.
Under the Divestment Act, U.S. companies that facilitate access to TikTok will be fined $5,000 per user. Considering TikTok's US user base of 170 million people, that amount is as high as $850 billion.
