On this photograph 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Personal fairness large Blackstone has withdrawn from a consortium looking for to put money into TikTok’s U.S. operations, a supply acquainted with the matter advised Reuters on Friday.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 Basic Atlantic, present buyers in TikTok’s Chinese language proprietor ByteDance. The group hademerged because the front-runner to safe TikTok’s U.S. enterprise in a deal beneath which U.S. buyers 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 buyers.
Final month, Trump signed a 3rd government order extending the deadline for ByteDance to promote TikTok or face a ban, shifting the cutoff to September 17. In April 2024, Congress handed a legislation 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 legislation” and ignoring nationwide safety issues associated to Chinese language management over TikTok.
ByteDance is exploring numerous choices to deal with these issues, together with promoting or restructuring its U.S. operations. The Chinese language social media large, which raked in $43 billion within the first three months of this 12 months, not too long ago surpassed Meta in quarterly income, sources advised Reuters.
The U.S. consortium, favored by the administration in any TikTok deal, additionally contains KKR, as effectively as new buyers similar 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 have 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 predicted to be owned by a three way partnership shaped by an American investor consortium and ByteDance, which might preserve a minority stake. TikTok is already engaged on a U.S.-specific app, sources advised Reuters.
Blackstone’s exit highlights the complexities and uncertainties concerned within the deal, as the continued talks over TikTok’s destiny have now grow to be a part of Trump’s broader commerce negotiations with China, and Trump stated he would communicate to President Xi Jinping about it.
