Tik Tok’s US division could reach $50 billion in sales.

Business moguls like Elon Musk should be prepared to shell out tens of billions of dollars for TikTok’s US operations if parent company ByteDance decides to sell them.

TikTok is facing a possible ban in the US if the Supreme Court decides to uphold national security laws that protect them as service providers. Apple And google Processing the application after the Sunday deadline will be penalized. ByteDance has not indicated whether it will sell the U.S. portion of the app, but the Chinese government is considering a plan to buy X owner Musk’s operations as one of several scenarios under consideration, Bloomberg News reported Monday.

If ByteDance decides to sell, buyers could shell out $40 billion to $50 billion. That’s CFRA Research’s senior vice president Angelo Zino’s estimate for TikTok’s U.S. operations. Zino compared the assessment to competing apps based on estimates of TikTok’s US user base and revenue.

TikTok has about 115 million monthly mobile users in the US, just behind Instagram’s 131 million, according to market intelligence firm estimates. Sensor Tower. That puts TikTok first Snapchat, Pinterest And RedditAccording to Sensor Tower, the US has a monthly mobile user base of 96 million, 74 million and 32 million respectively.

Zino’s estimate, however, is more than $60 billion less than the $60 billion he estimated for the department when he signs the March 2024 national security legislation next month into law that House President Joe Biden signed into law.

The lower estimate is due to Tik Tok’s current geopolitical crisis and “industry multiples have come down a bit” since March, Zino told CNBC in an email. Zino’s estimate does not include TikTok’s tipping algorithms, which the U.S. buyer cannot access as part of the deal, whose algorithms and alleged ties to China are at the center of the U.S. government’s case that TikTok poses a national security threat.

Bloomberg Intelligence analysts estimate TikTok’s US operations in the range of $30 billion to $35 billion. That’s the estimate they published in July, when they said the unit’s price would be “reduced due to the forced sale.”

Analysts at Bloomberg Intelligence said the potential buyout of TikTok’s U.S. operations and dealing with the associated regulatory scrutiny over data privacy would make a sale challenging. They also wrote that it would make it difficult for a buyer to expand Tik Tok’s advertising business.

A consortium of businessmen, including billionaire Frank McCourt and O’Leary Ventures chairman Kevin O’Leary, have made a bid to buy TikTok from ByteDance. O’Leary previously said the team would be willing to pay up to 20 billion dollars To acquire US assets without an algorithm.

Unlike Mook’s bid, O’Leary’s team bid will be exempt from regulatory oversight, O’Leary said Monday. Interview with Fox News

O’Leary said he’s a “big Elon Musk fan,” but added, “The idea that the regulator would allow this, even under the Trump administration, is very slim.”

TikTok, X and O’Leary Ventures did not respond to requests for comment.

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