Mukesh D. Ambani, Chairman of Reliance Industries Ltd., attended the Ajay Mushran Memorial Lecture in New Delhi, India, on Sunday, July 10, 2011.
Pankaj Nangia | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries could be on the verge of investing in Chinese-owned social media app TikTok, according to a TechCrunch report Thursday, citing two sources familiar with the matter.
Reliance Industries is currently in “early talks” with TikTok parent company ByteDance, which is headquartered in Beijing, over a potential deal for TikTok’s company in India, according to the report.
Discussions between ByteDance and Reliance Industries began reporting in July, but a deal has not yet been reached. The TikTok company in India has a valuation of $ 3 billion, according to one of the sources quoted by TechCrunch.
It is unclear if Reliance wants to take over the entire TikTok company in India as just a part of it.
TikTok has gained more users in India than in any other country, but the app was banned by the Indian government along with 58 other Chinese apps on June 29 as geopolitical tensions between the two nations escalated. It is possible that the Indian government would reinstate TikTok if it became the property of an Indian company, just as President Donald Trump has said that TikTok will continue to operate in the US, if it is owned by a US company such as Microsoft.
Reliance Industries was founded in 1973 and is owned by Mukesh Ambani, the richest man in India, and has traditionally been in the oil and petrochemical business. Over the last few years, however, it has put more of a focus on tech. Reliance’s Jio Platforms company has raised about $ 20 billion in recent months from investors including Google and Facebook, who compete directly with TikTok with Instagram Reels.
ByteDance, TikTok and Reliance Industries did not immediately respond to a request for comment from CNBC.
Read the full TechCrunch report here.
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