Blackstone Backs Off From TikTok Ownership Plans

Private equity group Blackstone has withdrawn from plans to invest in TikTok US.

That’s according to a report Friday (July 18) by Reuters, citing a source familiar with the matter. The change, as Reuters pointed out, is happening amid mounting uncertainty about a deal for the popular social media platform, following numerous delays.

Blackstone had intended to purchase a minority stake in Tiktok in a deal designed to sever the company’s U.S. business from Chinese owner ByteDance. The Reuters report noted that the deadline for ByteDance to divest in TikTok US has been postponed more than once, leading to uncertainty for investors.

PYMNTS has contacted Blackstone for comment but has not yet gotten a reply.

President Donald Trump signed the third of his executive orders extending the deadline for ByteDance to sell or face a ban, following a law passed by Congress in 2024. The initial deadline had been Jan. 19 of this year, and has now been moved to Sept. 17.

According to Reuters, these extensions have prompted criticism from some lawmakers, who argue the Trump administration is “flouting the law” and ignoring national security concerns related to ByteDance’s ties to the Chinese government.

The report added that ByteDance is exploring numerous options to alleviate these concerns, including selling or restructuring its U.S. operations. The tech giant took in $43 billion in the first three months of 2025 and recently surpassed Meta in quarterly revenue, sources told Reuters.

A plan had been underway earlier this year to spin off TikTok’s U.S. operations into a new U.S.-based firm. However, discussions were paused when China indicated it would not approve the transaction, after Trump’s announcement of new tariffs on Chinese imports.

Reuters had also reported earlier this month that TikTok was building a standalone U.S. app with its own algorithm and data system as it prepares to migrate its 170 million American users to the new site.

Employees of TikTok told Reuters that the company had over the past several months been developing a new, U.S.-specific version of the video-sharing platform by moving and duplicating the application’s codebase — which includes artificial intelligence (AI) models, algorithms and user data — from its worldwide platform

A spokesperson for TikTok told PYMNTS Reuters’ report was “based on anonymous uninformed sources” and “factually inaccurate.”

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