Private equity company Blackstone has reportedly exited a consortium that was preparing to invest in the US operations of video-sharing platform TikTok.

This development was reported by Reuters, citing information from an undisclosed source having knowledge about the matter.

The consortium, led by Susquehanna International Group and General Atlantic, aimed to acquire an 80% stake in TikTok’s US business. This would leave TikTok’s current owner ByteDance with a minority shareholding.

Susquehanna and General Atlantic also have equity stakes in ByteDance, which is a Chinese internet technology company.

This consortium also includes investors like KKR and Andreessen Horowitz, with Oracle anticipated to participate. However, following Blackstone’s exit, it is uncertain whether other consortium members remain engaged.

The potential deal is at the heart of US-China trade talks and has faced many delays and uncertainties.

The deadline set by the US government for ByteDance to sell TikTok’s operations in the country has been postponed multiple times, contributing to investor uncertainty. In April 2024, Congress enacted legislation mandating that TikTok be sold or shut down by 19 January 2025.

In June 2025, President Donald Trump issued a third executive order extending the deadline to 17 September 2025.

In the meantime, TikTok is working on a standalone app tailored for US users with a distinct algorithm and data system separate from its global version, reported Reuters. This step is said to lay the foundation for the potential sale favoured by the Trump administration.

The project, internally known as “M2,” is scheduled for completion by September 2025, and represents a significant technical shift between TikTok’s US operations and its international business.

In recent months, TikTok employees have reportedly focused on replicating and relocating sections of the codebase, including AI models and user data, to develop this new app variant for US users. This change is expected to affect content access for approximately 170 million users in the US and impact revenue channels for non-US creators.

ByteDance is assessing various approaches to resolve national security concerns related to Chinese influence over TikTok, which may include selling or restructuring its US operations. Despite these efforts, some lawmakers have criticised the repeated extensions of the deadline as disregarding legal obligations and neglecting security risks.

Negotiations earlier stalled after China signalled disapproval following Trump’s tariff imposition on Chinese goods. If an agreement is reached, the resulting entity would likely be a US-based joint venture between American investors and ByteDance.