SoftBank Group eyes partners to bid for TikTok's assets in India

TikTok is considering selling its operations in several countries after local governments shut out the app, citing fears that sensitive user data was passing into the hands of China

SoftBank Group is exploring assembling a group of bidders for TikTok’s India assets and has been actively looking for local partners, according to people familiar with the matter. 

Over the past month, the Japanese conglomerate, which owns a stake in TikTok’s Chinese parent ByteDance, has held talks with the heads of Reliance Jio Infocomm and Bharti Airtel, the people said, asking not to be identified because the details are private. While discussions have fizzled since, SoftBank is still exploring options, according to the people. 

Representatives for SoftBank, ByteDance, Reliance and Bharti Airtel declined to comment.