Bill - A structured transaction which can appease US policymakers is executing a spin-off of US TikTok into a separate entity, and simultaneously conducting an equity public offering on an US exchange. Subsequently, a certain percentage of ByteDance shareholders can exchange their stock for US TikTok shares, and can conduct a secondary sale (either block to private shareholder or public follow on offering).

This structure satisfies the concerns you listed above, as US TikTok now possesses a separate and independent Board, management team, operations, and data which already lives in Virginia. The transaction also creates tremendous value for ByteDance shareholders, allowing them to share in minority ownership of the newly created (valuable) public entity and cash out via IPO / secondary sale.

The key risk to the transaction is the horse trading between US TikTok and ByteDance Parent behind structuring the Services / Operating Agreement. Important topics will be IP rights, the content algorithms you referenced, and how ByteDance Parent will provide transition services until US TikTok's future state of technology will be able to stand up. This transaction cannot live if the US TikTok entity perpetually leases the master algorithm from ByteDance Parent, for obvious reasons.

I think an outright sale would set a hard to control narrative for the CCP, and generate a poor precedent for future Chinese technology companies who want to expand to the US market. This solution allows Chinese shareholders to monetize and participate in the upside, while cutting out CCP influence. Of course, there is always risks of bad actors e.g. data theft by individuals influenced by the CCP.

I've dived into a few more details surrounding other strategic alternatives, feel free to take a look!

https://balancedview.substack.com/p/a-ticking-conundrum