In this photograph illustration, the logo of TikTok is displayed connected a smartphone surface connected April 5, 2025 successful Shanghai, China.
Vcg | Visual China Group | Getty Images
Private equity giant Blackstone has withdrawn from a consortium seeking to put successful TikTok's U.S. operations, a root acquainted with the substance told Reuters connected Friday.
The latest alteration came arsenic uncertainty has mounted and determination person been respective delays successful the TikTok woody now at the halfway of U.S.-China commercialized talks.
Blackstone had planned to instrumentality a minority stake successful the TikTok U.S. concern successful a woody orchestrated by President Donald Trump. The consortium is led by Susquehanna International Group and General Atlantic, existent investors successful TikTok's Chinese proprietor ByteDance. The radical hademerged arsenic the front-runner to secure TikTok's U.S. concern successful a woody nether which U.S. investors would ain 80% of TikTok, portion ByteDance would clasp a number stake.
Blackstone declined to comment. TikTok did not instantly respond to a petition for comment.
The deadline for ByteDance to divest the fashionable societal media app successful the U.S. has been repeatedly postponed, creating uncertainty for investors.
Last month, Trump signed a 3rd enforcement order extending the deadline for ByteDance to merchantability TikTok oregon look a ban, moving the cutoff to September 17. In April 2024, Congress passed a instrumentality mandating a merchantability oregon shutdown of TikTok by January 19, 2025.
Extensions to the deadline person drawn disapproval from immoderate lawmakers, who reason the Trump medication is "flouting the law" and ignoring nationalist information concerns related to Chinese power implicit TikTok.
ByteDance is exploring assorted options to code these concerns, including selling oregon restructuring its U.S. operations. The Chinese societal media giant, which raked successful $43 cardinal successful the archetypal 3 months of this year, precocious surpassed Meta successful quarterly revenue, sources told Reuters.
The U.S. consortium, favored by the medication successful immoderate TikTok deal, besides includes KKR, arsenic well as caller investors specified arsenic Andreessen Horowitz, Reuters antecedently reported. Oracle is besides apt to instrumentality a stake. It is unclear whether different bidders successful the consortium are inactive involved.
A woody had been successful the works this outpouring to rotation disconnected TikTok's U.S. operations into a caller U.S.-based firm. Talks were enactment connected clasp aft China indicated it would not o.k. the transaction, pursuing Trump's announcement of steep tariffs connected Chinese goods.
If a merchantability is finalized, the caller U.S. app is expected to beryllium owned by a associated task formed by an American capitalist consortium and ByteDance, which would support a number stake. TikTok is already moving connected a U.S.-specific app, sources told Reuters.
Blackstone's exit highlights the complexities and uncertainties progressive successful the deal, arsenic the ongoing talks implicit TikTok's destiny person present go portion of Trump's broader commercialized negotiations with China, and Trump said helium would talk to President Xi Jinping astir it.
English (US) ·