A new report from the Washington Post claims that ByteDance, TikTok’s Chinese parent company, is slow-rolling (intentionally delaying) sales negotiations with the US as it waits for permission from the Chinese government. This is according to three people familiar with these conversations who spoke anonymously to the Post.
According to one source, ByteDance is holding out for a “grand deal” which includes bigger concessions on trade and tech policy. “It’s not like [China] would never do it, but they will need a lot in return,” a source added. “They are willing to pull the plug.”
As the Post points out, relations between the US and China have recently worsened. The US has imposed tariffs on Chinese imports. Meanwhile, China has limited exports of minerals used to make high-tech products among other things.
Indeed, while slow-rolling the deal is bad news for TikTok’s 170 million users, investor, and analyst Rui Ma suggests to the Post that Chinese citizens could look upon China’s tactics favorably. “It might be a multi-billion dollar company, but it is still a David versus the Goliath that is the US government,” she notes.
President Donald Trump, who vowed during his re-election campaign to “save TikTok,” claimed earlier this month that a divestment deal would be done in 30 days. If these reports are true, that promise seems less likely. It also casts doubt on whether Trump will be able to meet the April 5 deadline.
The good news is that TikTok has plenty of buyers to choose from. Interested parties include Microsoft, MrBeast, Perplexity AI, and Frank McCourt, among others. Trump has also claimed that the US government could buy TikTok with a sovereign wealth fund. But if China and ByteDance don’t want to play ball, well, that’s an entirely different story.
