ByteDance Would Rather Shut Down TikTok in the U.S. than Sell It: Report ByteDance broke its silence on the TikTok ban bill that Biden signed into law this week.

By Sherin Shibu

Key Takeaways

  • Sources who spoke with Reuters on Friday said that ByteDance would not sell its "secret source" of algorithms to competitors.
  • Insiders claim that shutting down TikTok in the U.S. wouldn't noticeably impact ByteDance's business.

Just after a bill that could potentially ban TikTok in the U.S. became law, the platform's Beijing-based parent company, ByteDance, publicly stated that it has no plans to sell.

The law, which President Biden signed on Wednesday, gives ByteDance nine months to sell TikTok to an American buyer, with a possible three-month extension in the case of a pending sale. If ByteDance does not comply, TikTok could be removed from app stores by January 19, 2025.

ByteDance made it clear on Thursday that if legal routes to fight the new legislation fail, it would rather shut down TikTok completely in the U.S. and remove the social media platform from app stores than sell it.

"Foreign media reports that ByteDance is exploring the sale of TikTok are untrue," ByteDance posted in a statement to Toutiao, a news aggregation app it owns. The post refutes a report by The Information that said the company was exploring options to sell, and ByteDance even attached screenshots of The Information's article in its rebuttal.

Shou Zi Chew, CEO of TikTok. Credit: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

"ByteDance doesn't have any plan to sell TikTok," the statement further read.

Related: The TikTok Ban Bill Has Been Signed — Here's How Long ByteDance Has to Sell, and Why TikTok Is Preparing for a Legal Battle

Four sources who spoke with Reuters on Friday said that TikTok's algorithms are foundational to ByteDance's business and that ByteDance would not sell its "secret source" of algorithms to competitors.

Disentangling the algorithms from TikTok's U.S. assets before a possible sale would be extremely difficult and unlikely to happen, according to the sources.

ByteDance does not publicly reveal details of its overall financial performance, nor disclose how units within it like TikTok are doing financially, but sources close to the company told Reuters that ByteDance's annual revenue rose from $80 billion in 2022 to $120 billion last year.

Though the U.S. contributed to a quarter of TikTok's overall revenue in 2023, TikTokers in the States only made up 5% of ByteDance's daily active users worldwide, per the same sources.

Those insiders claim that shutting down TikTok in the U.S. wouldn't noticeably impact ByteDance's business.

Related: Kevin O'Leary Wants to Buy TikTok — But Says It's Worth Much Less Than Last Year's Valuation

The TikTok ban bill passed due to national security concerns, which TikTok has long denied.

TikTok's execs are turning first to the U.S. legal system to circumvent a possible ban, calling the law "unconstitutional."

@tiktok

Response to TikTok Ban Bill

♬ original sound - TikTok

"The facts and the Constitution are on our side and we expect to prevail again," TikTok CEO Shou Chew stated Thursday in a TikTok.

"Our community is also filled with seven million business owners who have built their livelihoods on TikTok," he added.

Sherin Shibu

Entrepreneur Staff

News Reporter

Sherin Shibu is a business news reporter at Entrepreneur.com. She previously worked for PCMag, Business Insider, The Messenger, and ZDNET as a reporter and copyeditor. Her areas of coverage encompass tech, business, strategy, finance, and even space. She is a Columbia University graduate.

Want to be an Entrepreneur Leadership Network contributor? Apply now to join.

Growing a Business

'Boring' Businesses Are Making Millionaires — and You Can Borrow Their Strategies For Success

The silent growth strategy reveals how understated, steady businesses are quietly creating wealth for entrepreneurs in 2025. By focusing on long-term consistency and incremental progress, these "boring" industries are proving to be gold mines for those willing to embrace stability over hype.

Side Hustle

This Husband and Wife's 'Happy Accident' Side Hustle Hit $467,000 Revenue Fast — Now It Makes Over $1 Million a Year: 'We're Scrappy'

Charlene and Vince Li couldn't find the snack they wanted to see on the shelves, so they created it themselves.

Business News

JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon Says Only One Group Is Complaining About Returning to the Office

In a new interview, Dimon said remote work "doesn't work" and noted some JPMorgan employees were checking their phones while he was speaking in a meeting.

Business Ideas

70 Small Business Ideas to Start in 2025

We put together a list of the best, most profitable small business ideas for entrepreneurs to pursue in 2025.

Starting a Business

How This Raw Food Startup Is Taking a Bite Out of the $45B Pet Industry

We Feed Raw wants to change your dog's diet to how it was meant to be.

Business News

YouTuber MrBeast Makes More Money From His Side Hustle Than From His YouTube Videos

The 26-year-old creator has racked up hundreds of millions of views and subscribers on YouTube, but it isn't his main moneymaker.