ByteDance, the company that owns TikTok, might close down TikTok instead of selling it if they can’t stop the U.S. government from banning it. They really don’t want to sell TikTok because its special computer programs, called algorithms, are super important to ByteDance’s other businesses.
Even though TikTok isn’t a big part of ByteDance’s money and users, they’d rather shut it down in the U.S. than sell it to an American company. Shutting it down won’t hurt ByteDance much, and they get to keep their special algorithms. Some sources said this, but ByteDance didn’t say anything about it.
TikTok’s CEO, Shou Zi Chew, thinks they’ll win against the new law that wants to ban TikTok in the U.S. The law worries that China could get Americans’ data through TikTok. If the President doesn’t change it, they have to sell TikTok by January 19th, unless he gives them more time.
TikTok makes most of its money in China, not the U.S. Last year, about 25% of TikTok’s money came from the U.S. But it’s hard to say exactly how much TikTok is worth compared to other apps like Facebook and Snap. TikTok’s money grew a lot from 2022 to 2023, but it’s still small compared to ByteDance’s overall money.
The algorithms that make TikTok special are really important to ByteDance, and they don’t want to sell them to anyone.
The Chinese government probably won’t let ByteDance sell TikTok’s U.S. part either. ByteDance has some other valuable stuff, but without the special algorithms, it might be hard to find someone to buy TikTok in the U.S.