Bytedance

Trump administration in talks with 4 buyers for TikTok's US business

Even though the President did not mention which four companies are involved, he did mention that a 'lot of people want it' and 'all options were good'

Investors bidding for TikTok to offer 'significantly' more than $20 bn

It remains unclear if Tinsley and his investor group will be serious contenders for what are shaping up to be competitive and fast-evolving negotiations

Perplexity AI's new bid for TikTok parent firm could give US govt 50% stake

Perplexity AI has presented a new proposal to TikTok's parent company that would allow the US government to own up to 50% of a new entity that merges Perplexity with TikTok's US business, according to a person familiar with the matter. The proposal, submitted last week, is a revision of a prior plan the artificial intelligence startup had presented to TikTok's parent ByteDance on Jan. 18, a day before the law that bans TikTok went into effect. The first proposal, which ByteDance hasn't responded to, sought to create a new structure that would merge San Francisco-based Perplexity with TikTok's US business and include investments from other investors. The new proposal would allow the U.S. government to own up to half of that new structure once it makes an initial public offering of at least $300 billion, said the person, who was not authorized to speak about the proposal. The person said Perplexity's proposal was revised based off of feedback from the Trump administration. If the pla

Donald Trump administration explores TikTok deal with Oracle, Microsoft

Earlier, Trump had expressed openness to Tesla CEO Elon Musk or Oracle Chairman Larry Ellison acquiring the Chinese social media platform

TikTok's ByteDance plans $20 billion capex in 2025, mostly on AI: Report

The privately held technology giant plans to spend about half of the amount abroad on AI-related infrastructure, primarily data centres and networking equipment

Open to Elon Musk or Larry Ellison buying TikTok: US President Trump

Billionaire Frank McCourt, Shark Tank investor Kevin O'Leary, tech entrepreneur Jesse Tinsley and MrBeast have all expressed interest in TikTok

TikTok owner ByteDance plans to spend $12 billion on AI chips in 2025

This move comes as the Chinese company faces pressure from Washington to sell its popular video-sharing app in the United States

TikTok users anxiously await its return to US app stores, some abandon app

TikTok resumed service after Trump's assurances that the company and its partners would not face hefty fines to keep the app running, but it was yet to return to app stores

Apple, Google remove TikTok from US app stores as nationwide ban kicks in

Their moves followed TikTok's decision to proactively suspend its services to US-based users a few hours earlier when it took its platform offline

TikTok prepares for immediate shutdown in US this Sunday as ban nears

The US Supreme Court is ruling on the constitutionality of a law signed by President Joe Biden mandates TikTok to divest from its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, and sell to a US-based entity

Senators urge Biden to grant ByteDance 90-day delay from law requiring sale

The Justice Department had said that as a Chinese company, TikTok poses a national-security threat of immense depth and scale

Apple in talks with Tencent, ByteDance to roll out AI features in China

Apple's discussions with Tencent and ByteDance on using their AI models are at a very early stage

US Supreme court to hear appeal by TikTok's Chinese parent firm against ban

The dispute comes at a time of growing trade tensions between the world's two biggest economies after President Joe Biden's administration placed new restrictions on the Chinese chip industry

TikTok asks US Supreme Court to block govt ban set to take effect in Jan

Barring Supreme Court intervention, the ban will kick in Jan. 19, the day before Trump is inaugurated

TikTok's potential US ban explained: Can Trump save it from shutdown?

US lawmakers have called on Apple and Google to comply with the January 19 deadline by banning TikTok from their app stores unless ByteDance divests its ownership

Australia to tax digital platforms, search engines that don't pay for news

The Australian government said Thursday it will tax large digital platforms and search engines unless they agree to share revenue with Australian news media organisations. The tax would apply from January 1 to tech companies that earn more than 250 million Australian dollars ($160 million) a year in revenue from Australia, Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones and Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said. They include Meta, Google, Alphabet and ByteDance. The tax would be offset through money paid to Australian media organizations. The size of the tax is not clear. "The real objective ... is not to raise revenue -- we hope not to raise any revenue. The real objective is to incentivise agreement-making between platforms and news media businesses in Australia, Jones told reporters. The move comes after Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, announced that it would not renew three-year deals to pay Australian news publishers for their content. A previous government ...

Zhang Yiming tops China's rich list, but Mukesh Ambani still leads Asia

India is riding high, adding more billionaires than ever and outpacing China's wealth growth

TikTok parent ByteDance eyes $9.5 bn in record Asia dollar corporate loan

ByteDance's facility is larger than the earlier-anticipated size - an indication that the borrower is eager to take advantage of Asia's loan market, which is flush with liquidity amid dismal deal flow

US revives lawsuit against TikTok over 10-yr-old's blackout challenge death

A US appeals court revived on Tuesday a lawsuit filed by the mother of a 10-year-old Pennsylvania girl who died attempting a viral challenge she allegedly saw on TikTok that dared people to choke themselves until they lost consciousness. While federal law generally protects online publishers from liability for content posted by others, the court said TikTok could potentially be found liable for promoting the content or using an algorithm to steer it to children. TikTok makes choices about the content recommended and promoted to specific users, and by doing so, is engaged in its own first-party speech, Judge Patty Shwartz of the 3rd US Circuit Court in Philadelphia wrote in the opinion issued Tuesday. Lawyers for TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, did not immediately return phone and email messages seeking comment. Lawyers for the mother, Tawainna Anderson, had argued that the so-called blackout challenge, which was popular in 2021, appeared on Nylah Anderson's For You" feed after

US appeals court should reject DOJ filings in divestiture suit: TikTok

The Biden administration asked the court to reject lawsuits by TikTok, ByteDance and a group of TikTok creators seeking to block the law that could ban the app used by 170 million Americans