ByteDance explores TikTok options “short of sale”, Ford says
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The news: TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, is exploring options to maintain US operations without selling the platform, board member and General Atlantic CEO Bill Ford told Bloomberg.
Potential solutions include local control changes to comply with US legislation, he said.
The context: TikTok briefly went offline last weekend after the US Supreme Court upheld a national security law requiring the company to sell or shutter operations.
President Trump extended the sale deadline by 75 days via executive order, providing ByteDance additional time to find a solution, but its future remains uncertain.
ByteDance has publicly refused to sell TikTok, but Ford expressed optimism about constructive engagement between Presidents Trump and Xi, suggesting it could help resolve the issue.
Meanwhile, in an interview with Fox News, Trump on Wednesday (Thursday AEDT) downplayed TikTok’s national security risk, questioning China’s interest in spying on users of the social media app.
What they said: “We are optimistic we will find a solution,” Ford said on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos.
“There are a number of alternatives we can talk to President Trump and his team about that are short of selling the company that allow the company to continue to operate, maybe with a change of control of some kind, but short of having to sell.”
“I’m optimistic about the dialogue that is emerging between President Trump and President Xi,” Ford said. “That might help create a much more constructive environment, a much higher level of engagement that could lead to a positive solution.”
The source: Bloomberg
