The $14 billion price tag proposed for TikTok’s U.S. business values it more like a stuffy old energy or food company than a leading global social media company.
The rough estimate, cited by Vice President JD Vance on Thursday, is well below previous projections that scaled closer to $40 billion. Vance’s comments came as President Donald Trump pushed forward a plan for American investors to buy the U.S. operation from Chinese internet firm ByteDance Ltd.
Vance conceded that the purchasers will “ultimately” determine the amount paid. While expected buyers, including Oracle Corp. and Silver Lake Management LLC, would likely welcome a low-ball valuation, ByteDance and its existing investors may find it amusing, if not insulting.
Ashwin Binwani, founder of Alpha Binwani Capital, said the proposal “could be the most undervalued tech acquisition of the decade.” He estimated the floated figure reflects a third of TikTok’s true value. “By every major financial metric and peer comparison, this price tag looks dramatically misaligned with reality.”
TikTok’s video-sharing platform ranks among the most popular U.S. social media properties based on average daily app usage. Its influence has also been felt in the proliferation of competing short-video services like Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts.
