Reliance Jio or Airtel Can Buy TikTok’s India Operations; SoftBank Will Consider Bid

As per reports, SoftBank is looking for Indian bidders to place a bid on TikTok India’s assets. The Japanese multinational conglomerate owns a stake in TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance. 

Read on to find out more…

The Backstory of TikTok’s Sale!

Among 58 other Chinese apps, TikTok was banned in India by the government in late June amidst the India-China border disputes. 

Before the ban, TikTok reportedly had over 200 million subscribers across India. 

Since then, the TikTok India has been in talks of selling to Indian businesses with Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) reportedly being in early talks of the possible investment in the app.

TikTok is reportedly on sale in other countries after local governments have banned the app over the fear of leaking user’s sensitive information to the Chinese government. 

Over national security concerns. President Donald Trump after threatening to ban the app asked ByteDance to sell its assets to the country. The Trump administration has given the ByteDance deadline of November 12 to sell its assets. 

SoftBank Aggressively Trying To Save TikTok!

Despite having a small stake in ByteDance, SoftBank is actively taking part in negotiations. 

Over the past month, SoftBank is in talks with Mukesh Ambani’s RIL as well as Bharti Airtel heads, said people with knowledge in the matter while maintaining anonymity as the details are private.

With this buzz alive, SoftBank is looking for other options as well, according to the people. 

The Mayoshi Son-led company is actively investing in India for a long time. Indian startups like Snap deal, Oyo Rooms, and Ola Cabs have been backed by SoftBank. Recently it invested in LensKart and is a part of a joint solar venture with Bharti Enterprises and Taiwan’s Foxconn Technology.

In the US, the Japanese behemoth is interested in reviving and saving TikTok US.

Earlier, SoftBank had roped in Walmart as the main investor in the US business of TikTok that also included Alphabet, Google’s parent company. After the consortium fell apart when Trump insisted the investment be led by a US tech company, it is reportedly still going ahead with individual bidding.