TikTok’s Chinese parent company ByteDance is valuing itself at about $300 billion after a recent buyback offer, The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday, even as the tech giant’s popular TikTok app faces the prospect of a looming ban in the United States. The TikTok parent in recent days told investors it was looking to buy back shares at about $180 a share, the newspaper said. ByteDance investors have viewed President-elect Donald Trump’s return to the White House as an overall positive for TikTok’s hopes in the U.S., as per the report. At a Bloomberg BusinessWeek interview in June, Trump said, “I’m for TikTok because you need competition. If you don’t have TikTok, you have Facebook and Instagram.” Trump had previously called TikTok a national security threat but soon after he, too, joined the platform, which is used by about 170 million Americans. A law signed by U.S. President Joe Biden on April 24 gives ByteDance until January 19 to sell TikTok or face a ban. The White House has said it wants to see Chinese-based ownership ended on national-security grounds but not a ban on TikTok. TikTok and ByteDance sued in U.S. federal court in May, seeking to block the law signed by Biden. TikTok and ByteDance did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
