ByteDance May Miss US Deadline for TikTok Deal: Report

ByteDance is likely to miss the deadline imposed by the Trump administration for the sale of TikTok's US assets as new Chinese regulations have complicated deal talks with bidders Microsoft and Oracle, Bloomberg reported on Thursday.

The company likely needs beyond the US executive order ban on September 20 to reach an agreement with either of the parties due to the Chinese regulatory review, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter.

ByteDance did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. The Trump administration is seeking to ban TikTok unless ByteDance sells the short-video app's US operations, citing potential national security risk due to the vast amount of private data the app is compiling on US consumers. ByteDance has said the Chinese government does not have any jurisdiction over TikTok content.

On Wednesday, it was reported ByteDance is in talks with the US about ways it might avoid having to sell its TikTok operations in the US, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.

TikTok has been at the centre of a diplomatic storm between Washington and Beijing, and President Donald Trump gave Americans a deadline to stop doing business with TikTok's Chinese parent company ByteDance, effectively compelling a sale of the app to a US company.

Walmart has joined forces with Microsoft in negotiations to buy TikTok. Oracle is also reported to be interested in TikTok. The app has been downloaded 175 million times in the US and more than a billion times around the world. The company has filed a lawsuit challenging the crackdown by the US government.

© Thomson Reuters 2020

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