Trump’s $14B TikTok Valuation Sparks Outrage - Critics Call It Massive Undervaluation
Wall Street analysts blast former president's TikTok price tag as laughably low.
The Numbers Don't Add Up
When Trump slapped a $14 billion price tag on TikTok, the financial world did a double-take. Industry experts point to revenue multiples that would make even a crypto bull cringe - we're talking valuation metrics that belong in 2015, not 2025.
Silicon Valley's Collective Eye-Roll
VC firms that passed on early TikTok deals are now screaming foul. The platform's user engagement alone justifies a premium valuation, yet the proposed figure ignores basic growth projections. It's like pricing Bitcoin based on 2010 pizza transactions.
Regulatory Games or Financial Illiteracy?
Some suspect this isn't about fair market value at all. The lowball offer reeks of political theater - another case of politicians playing businessman while actual investors facepalm. Because nothing says 'market expertise' like undervaluing a generational tech asset by tens of billions.
Meanwhile in reality, TikTok's parent company ByteDance continues printing money - because actual tech companies understand value creation better than political opportunists.
Analysts compare TikTok valuation to oil and cereal
TikTok pulls in over $10 billion a year just from the U.S. market. That part of the business alone has 170 million active users, the app’s largest audience worldwide.
And yet the $14 billion price implies a price-to-sales ratio of 1.4 times, a number you’d expect from legacy corporations like ExxonMobil or General Mills, not a social media company dominating the short-form video space. Meta, which owns Instagram, trades at 10x revenue. Alphabet, which owns YouTube, is around 8x.
Despite how difficult it’s always been to value TikTok, partly because no one outside the company fully understands its recommendation algorithm, most analysts still agree that it’s worth way more.
The app has not only dominated the attention economy, it’s also forced competitors to launch copycats like Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts. But Trump’s administration doesn’t seem concerned with tech value. The focus is national security.
That’s why the sale is structured to spin off TikTok U.S. into a new joint venture, one where ByteDance will own less than 20%. The deal must close within 120 days. Trump claimed China’s President Xi Jinping gave the green light, but so far, Beijing hasn’t publicly confirmed anything. That’s left everyone guessing.
Ownership and leadership still totally unclear
The next big issue is who’s actually going to run the platform. Oracle builds infrastructure, not social apps. Silver Lake funds tech, it doesn’t operate it. Neither one knows what to do with 170 million users scrolling through videos 24/7.
Alvin Foo, venture partner at Zero2Launch, summed it up clearly: “It’s like you’re putting a gun to ByteDance and saying ‘sell or you stop.’” Alvin added, “Right now, it’s really Trump making the call, without listening or discussing with the Chinese government on whether the sale will go through.”
If the deal goes ahead, no one knows if ByteDance will license its algorithm or pull it entirely. There’s no clarity on who controls the tech, the data, or the future of the app’s performance. Without the algorithm, TikTok isn’t TikTok.
The app’s entire identity, and its success, is built around content delivery. Removing ByteDance but keeping the app intact may sound clean on paper, but the reality looks messy. And yet, this sale is being forced to happen in just four months. The clock’s already ticking.
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