Softbank is eyeing the India operations of TikTok, according to a report by Bloomberg. The report states that the Japanese conglomerate is exploring assembling a group of bidders for this and is looking at local partners to bid for the video sharing platform’s India operations. The report states that Softbank has so far held talks with Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel. These discussions took place over the past month but have since fizzled, it said.
Softbank holds a stake in Bytedance, TikTok’s parent company. TikTok was banned in India on June 29 as part of a list of 59 apps as they were of Chinese origin. This came amid border clashes in Ladakh’s Galwan Valley in China.
TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer resigned after just 100 days, citing the political environment and the US administration’s push to sell the US business as reasons.
At the time, Bytedance founder Zhang Yiming told employees in a letter that the company was moving quickly to resolve issues in India and the US.
At the time of the ban, TikTok reportedly had over 200 million users in India.
Softbank has invested in many Indian startups including OYO, Paytm, Housing.com, Policybazaar, Ola, Ola Electric, Lenskart and others.
TikTok has also been facing pressure in the US, with US President Donald Trump giving the company an ultimatum to sell off its US operations or face a ban. The deal will include TikTok’s US, Canadian, Australian and New Zealand operations.
While Walmart entered into the fray in partnership with Microsoft, Oracle is another top contender for the deal.
TikTok came under pressure to sell its US operations after President Donald Trump threatened to ban the short-video-sharing platform over national security concerns. Trump issued an executive order on August 6, prohibiting ByteDance from conducting any transaction in the US within 45 days. The US President issued another executive order on August 14, giving ByteDance an option to divest its TikTok business in the US within 90 days. TikTok has filed a lawsuit against the first executive order.