Existing ByteDance Investors Emerge as Front-Runners in TikTok Deal Talks

The icon for the TikTok video sharing app is seen on a smartphone in Marple Township, Pa., on Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023. (AP)
The icon for the TikTok video sharing app is seen on a smartphone in Marple Township, Pa., on Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023. (AP)
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Existing ByteDance Investors Emerge as Front-Runners in TikTok Deal Talks

The icon for the TikTok video sharing app is seen on a smartphone in Marple Township, Pa., on Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023. (AP)
The icon for the TikTok video sharing app is seen on a smartphone in Marple Township, Pa., on Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023. (AP)

White House-led talks on the future of TikTok are coalescing around a plan for the biggest non-Chinese investors in parent company ByteDance to up their stakes and acquire the short video app’s US operations, according to two sources familiar with the discussions.

The plan entails spinning off a US entity for TikTok and diluting Chinese ownership in the new business to below the 20 percent threshold required by US law, rescuing the app from a looming US ban, said the sources, who asked to be kept anonymous because they were not authorized to speak on record.

Jeff Yass’ Susquehanna International Group and Bill Ford’s General Atlantic, both of which are represented on ByteDance’s board, are leading discussions with the White House on the plan, the sources said.

Private equity firm KKR is also participating, one of the sources said.

The fate of the short video app used by nearly half of all Americans has been up in the air since a law took effect on Jan. 19 requiring ByteDance to either sell it or face a ban on national security grounds.

The law, passed last year with broad bipartisan support, reflects concern in Washington that TikTok’s ownership makes it beholden to the Chinese government and that Beijing could use the app to conduct influence operations against the United States. Free speech advocates have argued that the ban unlawfully threatens to restrict Americans from accessing foreign media in violation of the First Amendment of the US Constitution.

The company has said US officials have misstated its ties to China, arguing its content recommendation engine and user data are stored in the United States on cloud servers operated by Oracle while content moderation decisions that affect American users are also made in the US.

Under the plan proposed by existing investors, software giant Oracle would continue to house US user data and provide assurances that the data is not accessible from China, this source added.

Representatives for TikTok, ByteDance, Susquehanna, Oracle and the White House could not immediately be reached by Reuters for comment.

General Atlantic and KKR declined to comment.

The Financial Times reported earlier on Friday that US ByteDance investors were seeking to buy out Chinese investors in a proposed deal for a spun-off TikTok US business, naming investment firm Coatue as another existing investor involved in the talks.

Coatue did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

US President Donald Trump issued an executive order postponing enforcement of the law to April 5 shortly after taking office and said last month that he could further extend that deadline to give himself time to shepherd a deal.

According to legal filings from TikTok last year, global investors own about 58 percent of ByteDance, while the company’s Singapore-based Chinese founder Zhang Yiming owns another 21 percent and employees of different nationalities - including about 7,000 Americans - own the remaining 21 percent.

The White House has been involved to an unprecedented level in the closely watched deal talks, effectively playing the role of investment bank.

Trump initially supported the establishment of the ban during his first term but in recent months has pledged to "save TikTok" and keep the app alive in the US, crediting it with helping him win the 2024 presidential election.

The app went dark briefly, then came back online shortly after Trump’s inauguration, after he signed the executive order delaying enforcement of the ban by 75 days.

Trump said earlier this month that his administration was in touch with four different groups about a prospective TikTok deal, without identifying them.

Others vying to acquire the app include an investor group led by billionaire Frank McCourt and another involving Jimmy Donaldson, better known as the YouTube star Mr. Beast.

Reuters and others reported in January that Trump’s administration was working on a plan for TikTok that would involve tapping Oracle and some existing ByteDance investors to take control of the app’s operations.

Under the prospective deal, ByteDance would retain a stake in the company, but data collection and software updates would be overseen by Oracle, which already provides the foundation of TikTok’s infrastructure under an arrangement negotiated during Trump’s first term.



Impostor Uses AI to Impersonate Rubio and Contact Foreign and US Officials

Secretary of State Marco Rubio attends a signing ceremony for a peace agreement between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo at the State Department, June 27, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)
Secretary of State Marco Rubio attends a signing ceremony for a peace agreement between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo at the State Department, June 27, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)
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Impostor Uses AI to Impersonate Rubio and Contact Foreign and US Officials

Secretary of State Marco Rubio attends a signing ceremony for a peace agreement between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo at the State Department, June 27, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)
Secretary of State Marco Rubio attends a signing ceremony for a peace agreement between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo at the State Department, June 27, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)

The State Department is warning US diplomats of attempts to impersonate Secretary of State Marco Rubio and possibly other officials using technology driven by artificial intelligence, according to two senior officials and a cable sent last week to all embassies and consulates.

The warning came after the department discovered that an impostor posing as Rubio had attempted to reach out to at least three foreign ministers, a US senator and a governor, according to the July 3 cable, which was first reported by The Washington Post.

The recipients of the scam messages, which were sent by text, Signal and voice mail, were not identified in the cable, a copy of which was shared with The Associated Press.

“The State Department is aware of this incident and is currently investigating the matter,” it said. “The department takes seriously its responsibility to safeguard its information and continuously takes steps to improve the department’s cybersecurity posture to prevent future incidents.”

It declined to comment further due to “security reasons” and the ongoing investigation.

One of the officials said the hoaxes had been unsuccessful and “not very sophisticated.” Nonetheless, the second official said the department deemed it “prudent” to advise all employees and foreign governments, particularly as efforts by foreign actors to compromise information security increase.

The officials were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

“There is no direct cyber threat to the department from this campaign, but information shared with a third party could be exposed if targeted individuals are compromised,” the cable said.

The FBI warned in a public service announcement this past spring of a “malicious text and voice messaging campaign” in which unidentified “malicious actors” have been impersonating senior US government officials.

The scheme, according to the FBI, has relied on text messages and AI-generated voice messages that purport to come from a senior US official and that aim to dupe other government officials as well as the victim’s associates and contacts.

It is the second high-level Trump administration official to face such AI-driven impersonation.

The government was investigating after elected officials, business executives and other prominent figures received messages from someone impersonating President Donald Trump’s chief of staff, Susie Wiles. Text messages and phone calls went out from someone who seemed to have gained access to the contacts in Wiles’ personal cellphone, The Wall Street Journal reported in May.

Some of those who received calls heard a voice that sounded like Wiles, which may have been generated by artificial intelligence, according to the newspaper. The messages and calls were not coming from Wiles’ number, the report said.