TikTok Planning on Moving Headquarters to London
Jul. 20, 2020If there’s one app that constantly gets into controversies due to its country of origin, that’s TikTok. While thegovernment of India banned the appearlier this month, theUS is planning to follow the same pathas well. Now, as a step to reduce its Chinese image and perception, the company is reportedly planning to shift its headquarters.
As per a newReutersreport,TikTok is in talks with the UK government to relocate its headquarters to London. The company may significantly increase its workforce in London and regions outside China over the coming years. However, London is just one of the locations the company is planning to relocate to. As per the report, thelocation has not been finalizedjust yet.
It remains uncertain what other potential citiesTikTokhas shortlisted for relocation. TikTok’s parent company ByteDance has recently expanded TikTok’s engineering, and research & development operations in Mountain View, California. Hence, Mountain View could be one of the places the company might be considering.
In fact, there are contradicting reports in terms of TikTok’s ambition to move to London. While the sources ofReutersbelieve TikTok is still in discussions with the UK government, another report fromThe Sunday Timessuggests that the company has withdrawn talks due to a “wider geopolitical context”.
This is not the first time we’re hearing TikTok’s plans to relocate. A couple of months back, it was reported that the ByteDance-owned firm isplanning to move its decision-making authoritiesand research team from China.
Despite constant allegations, former Disney’s Chairman of Direct-to-Consumer & International division and current TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer promises that the company willnot hand over data of TikTok usersto the Chinese government.
Subin writes about consumer tech, software, and security. He secretly misses the headphone jack while pretending he’s better off with the wireless freedom.
