Microsoft is chasing a deal to buy all of TikTok’s global business, including the viral video app’s operations in India and Europe, the Financial Times reported on Thursday, citing people with knowledge of the matter. One investor pegged the value of Tik-Tok’s India business at as much as $10 billion.
Microsoft had said on Sunday that it was in negotiations with ByteDance, the Chinese owner of TikTok and the world’s largest startup, to explore a purchase of the TikTok service in the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
India was TikTok’s biggest market, with more than 650 million downloads, according to Sensor Tower data. But it’s been banned in the country since the end of June when the government put it on a blacklist of 59 Chinese apps, citing threat to national security in the wake of border hostilities.
The newspaper reported that a purchase by Microsoft may help restore its fortunes by removing the stigma of Chinese ownership at a time when sentiment against the country has been inflamed by the clash at the Line of Actual Control.
The FT reported that there was a “deal in the works” with Microsoft for TikTok India but that if it fell through, ByteDance could sell the business to foreign or local buyers. ByteDance would then licence its technology to the company and share revenue, it added. TikTok and Microsoft didn’t respond to queries.
