(Reuters) -Private equity firm Blackstone is evaluating taking a small minority investment in TikTok's U.S. operations, according to two people familiar with the matter.

Blackstone is discussing joining Chinese parent company ByteDance's existing non-Chinese shareholders, led by Susquehanna International Group and General Atlantic, in a bid for TikTok's U.S. business. The group has emerged as front-runners.

Their proposal entails spinning off TikTok's U.S. operations into a separate entity and diluting Chinese ownership in the new business to below the 20% threshold required by U.S. law.

TikTok, General Atlantic, and Blackstone declined to comment. Susquehanna did not respond to a request seeking comment.

The fate of the app used by nearly half of all Americans has been up in the air since a law, passed last year with overwhelming bipartisan support, required ByteDance to divest TikTok by January 19 or face a ban on national security grounds.

TikTok briefly went dark in the U.S. in January after the Supreme Court upheld the ban, but flickered back to life days later once U.S. President Donald Trump took office and postponed enforcement of the law to April 5.

Trump has said he may extend that deadline further and dangled a possible reduction in tariffs on China to try to get a deal done. U.S. Vice President JD Vance said he expects the general terms of an agreement that resolves ownership of the app to be reached by the April deadline.

ByteDance and its investors have not disclosed how much fresh investment would be needed to buy out Chinese shareholders and meet the requirements of the U.S. law.