BEIJING - ByteDance investors are in talks to use their stakes in the Chinese technology firm to help finance their bid for its popular short-video app TikTok, according to people familiar with the matter.
Some ByteDance investors, including investment firm General Atlantic, are vying to own large stakes in the TikTok assets for sale, the sources said. Nevertheless, the push by some ByteDance investors for a bigger role in the TikTok deal underscores their efforts to give the Chinese company more options and avert a fire sale.
Microsoft is working on a blueprint on how TikTok would be separated operationally from ByteDance after a deal is reached, which the Redmond, Washington-based company has said it hopes to ink by Sept 15, the sources added. While TikTok is best known for its anodyne videos of people dancing and going viral among teenagers, US officials have expressed concerns that information on users could be passed on to China's communist government.
Earlier this year, Chinese gaming company Beijing Kunlun Tech sold Grindr, a popular gay dating app it bought in 2016, for $620 million after being ordered by CFIUS to divest.