ByteDance Prefers to Shut Down TikTok in the US Instead of Selling It

ByteDance, the parent company of popular social media platform TikTok, has made it clear that it has no intentions of selling the app despite a new law signed by President Biden that could potentially ban TikTok in the U.S. The law gives ByteDance nine months to sell TikTok to an American buyer, with a possible three-month extension, or face removal from app stores by January 19, 2025.

In a statement posted on Thursday, ByteDance refuted reports that it was exploring a sale of TikTok, stating, “ByteDance doesn’t have any plan to sell TikTok.” The company even attached screenshots of a report by The Information that suggested otherwise.

Sources close to ByteDance revealed that the company’s annual revenue rose from $80 billion in 2022 to $120 billion last year, with the U.S. contributing a quarter of TikTok’s revenue in 2023. However, TikTokers in the U.S. only make up 5% of ByteDance’s daily active users worldwide.

Despite the potential impact of a TikTok ban in the U.S., insiders claim that shutting down the platform in the States would not significantly affect ByteDance’s overall business. TikTok executives are planning to challenge the new law in the U.S. legal system, calling it “unconstitutional.”

TikTok CEO Shou Chew expressed confidence in prevailing against the ban, stating, “The facts and the Constitution are on our side and we expect to prevail again.” The platform’s community, which includes seven million business owners, is also rallying against the potential ban.