Chinese giant ByteDance who owns TikTok is in talks with India’s Reliance Industries Limited for investment in the TikTok app. Both the companies started this conversation in late July but has not done any deal yet.
TikTok Parent ByteDance in Early Talks With Reliance Industries to Invest in Video app
According to the news on TechCrunch, two-person who are familiar with this matter have said to TechCrunch about the discussion. The sources said, the talks are private, so there is no news out yet about the deal.
Before TikTok was banned in India, TikTok had more than 200 million users in India which means, the business of the app was valued at more than $3 billion.
Reliance Industries, ByteDance and TikTok have not responded to a request for comment. In June, the Indian government banned 59 Chinese apps, including TikTok, WeChat and many other apps. All these apps were a threat to the user’s data, so the apps were banned.
Apart from Reliance, Microsoft is also in talks to buy US operations of TikTok app. And other Social media platform Twitter has also showed interest in dealing with TikTok.
An investment in TikTok of giant Reliance can help the firm in India and make connections with consumers. Even Reliance Jio has 400 Million users in India in just three to four years.
In April, Google said that it might work with Jio platform to bring a customized version of its Android mobile Operating System to power cheaper Android smartphones. Facebook also said that it would collaborate with Reliance Jio to help the digitize country’s businesses.
On the other side, ByteDance is also in talks with Microsoft to sell its business in selected markets. However, as per the reports, both the companies are in talks about the deal to include TikTok’s business in other markets, also including Europe and India. TikTok might return to India if Microsoft Buys TikTok’s Global Operation
If the deal with Reliance Industries is done, then it might help ByteDance to get the app in India which is banned for security concerns.