ByteDance in talks with the US government to avert full sale of TikTok

With the deadline for selling TikTok's US operations approaching, ByteDance is currently in talks with the US government to allow them to retain some ownership of TikTok's US operations and at the same time satisfying regulators in China and the US.

Possible solutions, in this case, keeping all parties happy, include handing over operational control of TikTok data to a US technology company while "still retaining some owned assets," CNBC reported.

As per a Wall Street Journal report, ByteDance has been working with the US government to prevent a full sale and discussions have been going on for months. WSJ reported that the "situation remains fluid" and that it is unclear whether the Trump administration will be willing to go ahead with a solution like this.

The Trump administration had set a September 20 deadline for ByteDance to announce a plan to sell TikTok's US operations to a US corporation or shut down in the US by September 29. The deal should be completed by November 12.

ByteDance has been negotiating the sale of TikTok's US operations to Microsoft in partnership with Walmart or Oracle. A deal was pretty close to being completed and announced, in which it also saw TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer announce his resignation.

Mayer wrote in a letter to employees that he had reflected on what the corporate structural changes will require given the abrupt change in the political environment and what it meant for the global role for which he had signed up. Mayer went on to write that while the company is expected to resolve soon, it has decided to leave.

Earlier this month, there were reports that TikTok had chosen a buyer for its businesses in the US, Australia, and New Zealand and was going to announce the details soon. However, everyone was prepared with the possibility that Beijing would not let the Agreement will go smoothly.

As expected, negotiations and announcements were halted after Chinese officials introduced new restrictions on technology exports that required China's approval for TikTok to sell its algorithm as it is part of the core value of the app.