Chinese owner refuses to sell TikTok
There will not be an immediate ban as the new law has given 9 months to ByteDance to sell the company and an additional three months before a potential ban
ByteDance, TikTok’s Chinese parent company showed no intentions of selling the company after the US passed a law forcing the company to either sell the business or get banned in America. Earlier this week TikTok said it will challenge the “unconstitutional law” in the court.
“ByteDance doesn’t have any plans to sell TikTok,” posted the company on its official account on Toutiao (a social media platform it owns).
ByteDance responded to an article by a technology-exploring website that claimed that it was exploring potential sales for TikTok’s operation in the country. “Foreign media reports of ByteDance selling TikTok are not true,” said the company through a post along with a screenshot of the article with a stamp of Chinese characters translating to “false rumour”.
Beijing’s involvement in private companies is raising concerns in the US and other parts of the world. The concern forced the US President to impose a sell-or-ban measure into the law. The country is concerned about how much control the Chinese communist party holds over ByteDance. However, TikTok has repeatedly denied the claims of the governmental control over ByteDance.
“We are confident and we will keep fighting for your rights in the courts. The facts, and the Constitution, are on our side… rest assured, we aren’t going anywhere,” said TikTok boss Shou Zi Chew in a video.
TikTok has given a breakdown of the company’s ownership as 20% of shares are owned by ByteDance’s Chinese founder, whereas 60% is owned by institutional investors, including major US investment firms Carlyle Group, General Atlantic, and Susquehanna International Group, and the last 20% is owned by employees around the world. It is to be noted that three of the company’s five board members are American.
The Chinese government has warned a TikTok ban would “inevitably come back to bite the US”.
There will not be an immediate ban as the new law has given 9 months to ByteDance to sell the company and an additional three months before a potential ban.
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