TikTok Sale Deadline Hits With ByteDance Desperate for Time

Trump administration has ordered divestment of U.S. business
Sale of app could be complicated by presidential transition

Watch: Whatever happened to banning TikTok in the U.S.? Jennifer Zabasajja appears on Bloomberg Quicktake's "Take a Break." (Source: Bloomberg)

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By Kurt Wagner, Shelly Banjo, and David McLaughlin

November 12, 2020 at 1:13 AM UTC

Updated on

November 12, 2020 at 5:06 PM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

ByteDance Ltd. is butting up against a long-awaited deadline that would subject the Chinese internet giant to possible Trump administration penalties if it can’t clinch a deal for the U.S. operations of its widely used video-sharing app, TikTok.

The Beijing-based company has asked the U.S. government to extend a Thursday deadline for ByteDance to divest its TikTok business in the U.S. President Donald Trump in August demanded the app be spun off, citing concerns about the security of American users’ personal information, and gave the company a 90-day timeline to complete a transaction.