Chinese authorities are considering selling TikTok’s US business to businessman Elon Musk if the short video service fails to challenge a ban on the use of its application in the US, Bloomberg reports, citing informed sources.
The sources emphasize that the Chinese government wants to keep TikTok under the control of its parent company ByteDance Ltd. The appeal against the ban is being considered by the US Supreme Court, but it is likely that the judges will uphold the ban.
Pending the decision, Chinese officials have begun discussing other options for TikTok’s US business. One option involves the participation in the deal of Musk, who is a close supporter of US President-elect Donald Trump. Musk also has a good reputation in China, where the largest plant of his car company Tesla is located.
According to sources, in one of the possible scenarios, control over TikTok’s US operations could go to Company X (formerly Twitter). The number of TikTok users in the US exceeds 170 million, and the acquisition of the service could help X attract advertisers. In addition, Musk has founded a separate company in the field of artificial intelligence, xAI, and it can find application for the huge amount of data generated by TikTok.
Sources note that the discussions are preliminary and no decisions have been made yet. It is also unclear how aware ByteDance is of the Chinese government’s plans, and whether ByteDance, TikTok, and Musk have had any talks about a possible deal.
Elon Musk, ByteDance, and TikTok did not respond to Bloomberg’s requests for comment, nor did representatives of China’s Cybersecurity Administration and Ministry of Commerce.
TikTok’s U.S. operations could be valued at $40-50 billion, according to Bloomberg Intelligence analysts. This is a significant amount of money even for the richest man in the world, and it is unclear how Musk could pay for such a deal. He acquired Twitter in 2022 for $44 billion and is still paying off the debt taken out to finance the deal.
Bloomberg also notes that TikTok’s business in the United States is a valuable asset that other players are also claiming. In particular, billionaire Frank McCourt and investor Kevin O’Leary have previously announced their intention to buy the business. Other contenders may include Microsoft Corp. and Oracle Corp. which is TikTok’s longtime partner in the technology sector.
Retail sales of passenger cars in China in December increased by 12% year-on-year to 2.635 million, according to a report by the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA).
Compared to November, they increased by 8.7%.
Sales of new energy vehicles (NEVs) soared by 37.5% yoy and reached 1.302 million. The figure was up 2.6% compared to November.
NEVs accounted for 49.4% of new cars last month, up from 40.3% in December 2023.
For the whole of 2024, passenger car sales in China increased by 5.5% compared to the same period a year earlier to 22.894 million.
In 2024, China significantly strengthened its position in Serbia’s economy, becoming its largest trading partner, overtaking the European Union.
As of 2023, the volume of bilateral trade between China and Serbia amounted to USD 4.35 billion, up 23.7% year-on-year. In 2024, after the entry into force of the Free Trade Agreement between the two countries on July 1, further growth in trade accelerated, which led to an increase in trade with China compared to the EU. This is reported by the Serbian Economist TV channel.
One of the growth factors was the increase in imports of high-tech equipment, electronics and raw materials for the metallurgical industry from China. In addition, China is actively investing in key infrastructure projects in Serbia, such as the construction of an industrial park near Novi Sad and the modernization of the Belgrade-Budapest railway line.
For example, the project to build an industrial park near Novi Sad with an investment of 300 million euros will create about 5,000 new jobs.
Modernization of the Belgrade-Budapest railway line and other infrastructure projects aimed at improving the transport network and logistics in the region.
Strengthening ties with China allows Serbia to diversify its trade relations and reduce its dependence on the EU and Russia, which contributes to sustainable economic growth and development of key industries.
Serbian Economist – https://t.me/relocationrs
American electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla plans to complete the construction of a plant in Shanghai to produce Megapack energy storage devices by the end of this year, Xinhua news agency reported, citing a statement from the company’s local office.
Construction of the plant began in late May. The plant covers an area of about 200 thousand square meters, and the total investment in this project is estimated at about 1.45 billion yuan ($202 million).
The facility will be Tesla’s first energy storage project outside the United States and the company’s second plant in Shanghai after the electric vehicle gigafactory, with total investments exceeding 50 billion yuan.
Mass production of Megapack at the new facility is expected to begin in the first quarter of 2025. At the initial stage, the production volume will be 10 thousand drives per year, which is equivalent to approximately 40 GWh of electricity.
Megapack is a 3.9 MWh battery for energy storage and power supply support, its use contributes to the stability of power grids and prevents interruptions in their operation, according to Tesla’s website. The American company already has a Megapack production plant in California with a capacity of 10 thousand units per year.
Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Andriy Yermak met with the newly appointed Chinese Ambassador to Ukraine Ma Shengkun.
“During the meeting, we discussed the prospects for bilateral cooperation between China and Ukraine,” the press service of the Presidential Office reports on its telegram channel.
During the meeting, Yermak noted that China’s role is important in achieving a just and lasting peace for Ukraine.
“In addition, they discussed the possibility of bilateral dialogue at the highest level,” the statement said.
According to Worldsteel, in November 2024, steel production increased compared to November 2023 in most of the top ten countries, except for Japan, the United States, Russia and South Korea.
The top ten steel producing countries in November are as follows: China (78.4 million tons, +2.5% by November 2023), India (12.384 million tons, +4.5%), Japan (6.888 million tons, -3.1%), the United States (6.378 million tons, -2.8%), the Russian Federation (5.450 million tons, -9.2%), South Korea (5.190 mln tons, -3.6%), Iran (3.074 mln tons, +0.1%), Turkey (3.011 mln tons, +0.7%), Germany (2.909 mln tons, +8.6%) and Brazil (2.774 mln tons, +1.9%).
Overall, in November this year, steel production increased by 0.8% year-on-year to 146.831 million tons.
For 11 months of 2024, the top ten steel producing countries are as follows: China (929.190 million tons, -2.7%), India (135.932 million tons, +5.9%), Japan (77.102 million tons, -3.6%), the United States (72.879 million tons, -2.2%), the Russian Federation (64.885 million tons, -7%), South Korea (58, 297 million tons, -4.9%), Germany (34.490 million tons, +5.3%), Turkey (33.915 million tons, +11.2%), Brazil (31.168 million tons, +5.6%) and Iran (28.030 million tons, +0.5%).
In total, 71 countries produced 1 billion 694.593 million tons of steel in January-November, down 1.4% from the same period in 2023.
At the same time, Ukraine produced 7.028 million tons of steel in 11 months of 2024, up 23.1% compared to January-November 2023. The country is ranked 20th in the first 11 months of 2014.
As reported, in 2023, China produced 1 billion 19.080 million tons at the level of the previous year), India (140.171 million tons, +11.8%), Japan (86.996 million tons, -2.5%), the United States (80.664 million tons, +0.2%), Russia (75.8 million tons, +5.6%), South Korea (66.676 million tons, +1.3%), Germany (35.438 million tons, -3.9%), Turkey (33.714 million tons, -4%), Brazil (31.869 million tons, -6.5%) and Iran (31.139 million tons, +1.8%).
At the end of 2022, the top ten steel producing countries looked like this: China (1.013 billion tons, -2.1%), India (124.720 million tons, +5.5%), Japan (89.235 million tons, -7.4%), the United States (80.715 million tons, -5.9%), the Russian Federation (71.5 million tons, -7.2%), South Korea (65, 865 million tons, -6.5%), Germany (36.849 million tons, -8.4%), Turkey (35.134 million tons, -12.9%), Brazil (33.972 million tons, -5.8%) and Iran (30.593 million tons, +8%).
In 2022, Ukraine ranked 23rd with the production of 6.263 million tons of steel (-70.7%).
