On this picture illustration, the brand of TikTok is displayed on a smartphone display screen on April 5, 2025 in Shanghai, China.
Vcg | Visible China Group | Getty Photographs
Personal fairness big Blackstone has withdrawn from a consortium searching for to put money into TikTok’s U.S. operations, a supply conversant in the matter informed Reuters on Friday.
The most recent change got here as uncertainty has mounted and there have been a number of delays within the TikTok deal now on the middle of U.S.-China commerce talks.
Blackstone had deliberate to take a minority stake within the TikTok U.S. enterprise in a deal orchestrated by President Donald Trump. The consortium is led by Susquehanna Worldwide Group and Common Atlantic, present traders in TikTok’s Chinese language proprietor ByteDance. The group hademerged because the front-runner to safe TikTok’s U.S. enterprise in a deal below which U.S. traders would personal 80% of TikTok, whereas ByteDance would retain a minority stake.
Blackstone declined to remark. TikTok didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
The deadline for ByteDance to divest the favored social media app within the U.S. has been repeatedly postponed, creating uncertainty for traders.
Final month, Trump signed a 3rd government order extending the deadline for ByteDance to promote TikTok or face a ban, transferring the cutoff to September 17. In April 2024, Congress handed a regulation mandating a sale or shutdown of TikTok by January 19, 2025.
Extensions to the deadline have drawn criticism from some lawmakers, who argue the Trump administration is “flouting the regulation” and ignoring nationwide safety issues associated to Chinese language management over TikTok.
ByteDance is exploring varied choices to deal with these issues, together with promoting or restructuring its U.S. operations. The Chinese language social media big, which raked in $43 billion within the first three months of this 12 months, just lately surpassed Meta in quarterly income, sources informed Reuters.
The U.S. consortium, favored by the administration in any TikTok deal, additionally consists of KKR, as effectively as new traders corresponding to Andreessen Horowitz, Reuters beforehand reported. Oracle can also be prone to take a stake. It’s unclear whether or not different bidders within the consortium are nonetheless concerned.
A deal had been within the works this spring to spin off TikTok’s U.S. operations into a brand new U.S.-based agency. Talks had been placed on maintain after China indicated it might not approve the transaction, following Trump’s announcement of steep tariffs on Chinese language items.
If a sale is finalized, the brand new U.S. app is anticipated to be owned by a three way partnership fashioned by an American investor consortium and ByteDance, which might keep a minority stake. TikTok is already engaged on a U.S.-specific app, sources informed Reuters.
Blackstone’s exit highlights the complexities and uncertainties concerned within the deal, as the continued talks over TikTok’s destiny have now change into a part of Trump’s broader commerce negotiations with China, and Trump mentioned he would communicate to President Xi Jinping about it.