TikTok keeps hoping to meet the deadline for selling a business in the USA
The US President stressed that he would not grant ByteDance a deferral to search for buyers for the American TikTok business, and the Chinese authorities tacitly make it clear that leaving the service from the US market is more profitable for them than selling it. Directly ByteDance has not yet lost hope of meeting the search for buyers within the timeframe given by the American authorities.
Bloomberg reported this with reference to informed sources. Representatives of ByteDance, according to the publication, accelerated the negotiation process in order to have time to provide the American authorities by September 20 with a plan to transfer TikTok assets in the United States to selected American companies. The main contenders for the purchase remain Microsoft in an alliance with Walmart, as well as Oracle corporation. The problem is aggravated by statements by Donald Trump, who, in communication with the press, began to often mention September 15 as the date by which the negotiations should end. In August, there was a 45-day period for searching for buyers, it should expire on September 20. In the current environment, even a five-day difference can be critical.
TikTok officials also told Bloomberg that the Chinese government has never hinted at the wisdom of closing the U.S. business instead of selling it to new owners. In the public sphere, representatives of the Chinese Foreign Ministry speak out in support of companies from the PRC in the international arena, calling the US claims unfounded, and also mentioning their readiness to take retaliatory measures. The latter, however, has not yet been specified in any way.
According to Bloomberg, the participants in the negotiation process initially planned to reach a preliminary agreement by September 20, and the deal to conclude by December of this year. As the Chinese authorities are now trying to prevent the free transfer of TikTok’s recommendation algorithm outside the PRC, the timing may change. Interviewed by Bloomberg the experts also explain that even if TikTok is banned in the US, the service will not stop working overnight. Most likely, Apple and Google will first be forced to deprive users of the ability to download the application from branded stores. Then TikTok will lose advertising contracts and support for cloud providers in the United States, which will slow down the service in the country and undermine financial flows. All this will stretch over many months and will allow resourceful users to apply all sorts of workarounds to work with TikTok.
