Existing ByteDance Shareholders Are Frontrunners for TikTok Deal in the Works in the U.S.

April is approaching, meaning that potential participants in a deal to buy TikTok’s US business are running out of time to negotiate. The deal is being forced by US law, and Donald Trump has only delayed its implementation on the first day of his second term.

Image source: Unsplash, Franck

Reuters reports that at this stage, the most likely contenders for TikTok’s American assets are existing institutional investors Susquehanna International Group, General Atlantic, KKR, and Coatue. The first two organizations are already represented on the board of directors of ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company. In essence, they will try to spin off TikTok’s American assets and then increase their existing shareholdings in such a way as to reduce the share controlled by the Chinese side below the 20% level required by American law. If such a deal structure is not agreed upon by April 5, and Donald Trump does not dare to extend the deferment of the TikTok ban in the United States, the social network’s work in this country will once again be paralyzed.

As of last year, international investors owned a combined 58% of ByteDance, with founder Zhang Yiming owning 21% of the company and the remaining 21% divided among the company’s employees, of whom there are nearly 7,000 Americans. Either way, the negotiations mean Oracle will continue to control the technical infrastructure that powers TikTok in the U.S., as well as ensure that its local users’ personal data is secure and that the software algorithms are not maliciously tampered with by China.

Donald Trump has previously said that he is in talks with four potential investor groups, but has not named them. At least two other groups are apparently led by billionaire Frank McCourt and popular YouTuber Jimmy Donaldson, better known to the YouTube audience as Mr. Beast. Perplexity has also recently expressed nominal interest in TikTok assets.