TikTok’s price is a question mark in already complex deal

Microsoft Corp. has six weeks to hash out details of a proposal to buy the U.S. operations of TikTok that satisfies the Trump administration and shareholders in Chinese parent company ByteDance Ltd. Of all the tricky questions that still need to be resolved for the deal to move forward, one stands out: How much is the video-sharing app’s business worth?

Analysts and bankers have pegged the value of TikTok’s U.S. business anywhere from $20 billion to $50 billion, a wide range that reflects the complexity involved in separating TikTok’s American and global businesses, in determining a reliable number of users, and how revenue breaks out just for the markets at stake in the deal. Microsoft’s discussions also include TikTok’s business in Canada, Australia and New Zealand.