Bytedance's earnings leap 60%, TikTok's divestiture could get a reprieve

2023 was a very good year for TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, which saw its profit jump roughly 60%. The company's earnings hit more than $40 billion last year, from about $25 billion in 2022.

2024 – now that's a challenging year for TikTok! On March 13, by a stunningly huge margin, the House passed a bill that could ban TikTok in the U.S.

The goal is ByteDance to sell its interests in the viral short video app, or face a ban in the US. If everything goes to plan (the bill passes the Senate and Joe Biden signs it), ByteDance will have a 165-day deadline to divest from TikTok. Should it not pass the control of TikTok to an American-based company, US app stores (like Apple's, Google's and Samsung's) would be prohibited from offering TikTok in the country.

Now, Maria Cantwell, Chair of the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee, says that lawmakers could extend to one year the proposed deadline to force TikTok's parent company to divest (via Reuters).

According to her, the idea of extending the deadline to one year is okay:


The longer deadline would put any potential TikTok ban well into 2025 and beyond the November presidential election. On Monday, Cantwell told reporters she will meet with Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and Senate Intelligence Committee chair Mark Warner and "then we will have a game plan on how to proceed."

On Wednesday, Cantwell said it was still "possible" the Senate could take up the House bill but she reiterated that senators want to make the bill stronger and put it on a better legal footing. She noted that attempts by former President Donald Trump's administration and the state of Montana failed to ban TikTok.

The plan to take on Instagram

Meanwhile, TikTok sticks to the plan to take on Instagram with a new app for sharing photos. It's going to launch in the not so distant future, and it'd be called Notes, allowing users to share photos much like Instagram.

Judging by teasers, so far TikTok's Notes seems to offer Polaroid-looking posts featuring a still photo and caption.

"Notes"? Well, it's hard not to be salty, but… this is as an unimpressive app name as it gets. TikTok should try better, in my personal opinion.