Hints and tips:
...TikTok said ByteDance staff in China were not involved in trust and safety decisions, which were handled out of the US and Ireland....
...ByteDance aims to provide “significant buyback opportunities based on the company’s situations each year”, the memo to staff said....
...Geopolitical tensions and dim prospects for an initial public offering have weighed on ByteDance....
...ByteDance is also investing in expanding TikTok’s international ecommerce business. ByteDance does not publicly disclose its revenue and profitability figures and declined to comment....
...Downloads of TikTok, owned by Beijing-based ByteDance, edged up a mere 4 per cent to 733mn over the same period....
...TikTok and its Chinese parent ByteDance said on Tuesday that they had filed a lawsuit against the US government challenging a law that would force a sale or ban of the app....
...ByteDance has approximately 100,000 employees outside the US....
...The Senate on Tuesday voted 79-18 to approve the legislation, firing the starting gun for ByteDance to divest TikTok to avoid the ban....
...Meanwhile, other parties have expressed interest in acquiring TikTok from ByteDance....
...Earlier this week, TikTok and its parent ByteDance filed a lawsuit against the US government, challenging a law designed to force a sale or ban of the app....
...SIG’s investments in China go beyond ByteDance....
...ByteDance has successfully used US courts to thwart several attempted bans in the US....
...TikTok’s former global marketing head Katie Puris has accused the company of unlawfully firing her because some company executives, including the chair of its Chinese parent company ByteDance, believed she...
...Republican and Democratic lawmakers have introduced legislation that would ban app stores from distributing TikTok unless ByteDance, its Chinese owner, divests control of the popular video-sharing platform...
...But he conceded that China-based employees at ByteDance may have access to some US data from the app....
...A recent FT report highlighted how ByteDance had tightened its grip over TikTok’s US operations over the past two years....
...Under the legislation, US app stores will be banned from carrying TikTok — or facilitating updates — in 270 days unless ByteDance divests the app....
...Information about sales and profits are not published by ByteDance, which is private, but revenues last year are reportedly close to $20bn....
...The Chinese government has made clear that it does not want ByteDance to divest TikTok, and most people close to ByteDance insist that the company will not sell even if Congress tries to force it....
...China has powers to block the export of ByteDance’s algorithms that power TikTok and Beijing’s commerce ministry said last year it would “firmly oppose” a forced sale by ByteDance....
...The new TikTok bill gives ByteDance 270 days to divest the app, bringing the deadline past the US election in November....
...The bill gives ByteDance 180 days to divest TikTok to prevent it from being banned from app stores....
...Indeed, even before Wednesday’s vote, there were signals that ByteDance’s valuation had dropped....
...And what ByteDance wants might not be the same as what Beijing wants....
...Beijing’s commerce ministry said last year it would “firmly oppose” a forced sale by ByteDance....
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