Bytedance in talks over sale of Tiktok assets in India after ban
The Chinese owner of Tiktok is said to be in talks over a sale of its Indian assets to rival Glance after the viral video app was banned in the country.
The discussions between Bytedance and Glance, which were initiated by Softbank, are complex and in early stages, Bloomberg reported.
Google-backed Glance serves news and entertainment on the lock screen of Android smartphones, and has racked up more than 100m daily users.
It is owned by mobile advertising tech unicorn InMobi, which also controls short-form video app Roposo. Softbank is a backer of InMobi as well as Bytedance.
Tiktok was banned in India in July last year as part of a crackdown on Chinese apps over concerns about privacy and data use.
The move has sparked a sharp rise in popularity for Roposo as users shifted to the rival platform.
According to the report, the Indian government will insist that any Tiktok data and tech remains within the country if a deal is brokered.
It comes after the proposed sale of Tiktok’s US operations to Oracle and Walmart was reportedly put on hold indefinitely.
Bytedance had been forced into offloading its US business by Donald Trump’s administration as part of a campaign against Chinese tech firms.
But the complex deal, which has been hampered by a number of appeals, is said to have been shelved while US President Joe Biden reviews the country’s policy on China.