U.S. venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz is in discussions to invest in TikTok as part of an effort led by President Donald Trump to gain control of the short video app from its Chinese owners, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday.
Silicon Valley Trump supporter and Andreessen Horowitz’s co-founder, Marc Andreessen, is in talks to add new outside investment that will buy out TikTok’s Chinese investors, as part of a bid led by Oracle and other American investors to carve it out of its parent company ByteDance, the report said.
The offer has recently emerged as the frontrunner ahead of a deadline on April 5, FT said, citing multiple people familiar with the matter.
The venture capital firm was approached as TikTok’s advisers and the White House sought to add financial firepower to ongoing discussions. Andreessen was strongly considering making an investment, according to the report.
TikTok and Andreessen Horowitz did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.
Private equity firm Blackstone is discussing joining ByteDance’s existing non-Chinese shareholders, led by Susquehanna International Group and General Atlantic, in contributing fresh capital to bid for TikTok’s U.S. business, Reuters had exclusively reported last week.
Trump has said that a deal with ByteDance to sell the short video app used by 170 million Americans would be struck before a deadline on Saturday.
White House-led talks on the future of TikTok are coalescing around a plan for the biggest non-Chinese investors in ByteDance to raise their stakes and acquire the short video app’s U.S. operations, Reuters reported last month.
