The TikTok takeover saga just got messier. Private equity giant Blackstone has walked away from the leading investor group that was supposed to rescue TikTok’s U.S. operations from regulatory limbo. That’s one less billionaire name on the list, and one more headache for everyone trying to figure out where this deal is actually headed.

Blackstone had planned to grab a minority stake in a deal backed by the Trump administration. The pitch was simple: create a U.S.-based version of TikTok, hand over 80 percent ownership to American investors, and keep ByteDance, the Chinese parent company, with a small slice. The consortium was led by Susquehanna International Group and General Atlantic, with backup from heavyweights like KKR, Andreessen Horowitz, and maybe Oracle. With Blackstone out, the group’s firepower just dimmed, and the timeline is looking even shakier.

It’s not like the deal was moving quickly to begin with. ByteDance was supposed to offload TikTok’s U.S. assets months ago. Congress passed a law back in April giving them until January 2025 to either sell or shut it down. Then came deadline extensions, political pressure, and accusations that Trump’s team was slow-walking the whole thing. A third executive order moved the sale deadline to September, but critics are already calling foul.

Meanwhile, TikTok’s Chinese ownership has become a political flashpoint. National security hawks say the app poses a surveillance threat. The Chinese government, not thrilled about losing control of one of its biggest global exports, signaled it wouldn’t approve the deal. Toss in Trump’s recent spike in tariffs on Chinese imports, and suddenly you’re not just negotiating a tech deal—you’re knee-deep in a trade war.

Even with all this chaos, ByteDance isn’t exactly hurting. The company pulled in $43 billion last quarter and just outpaced Meta in revenue for the first time. TikTok’s popularity hasn’t budged, and users aren’t fleeing. The platform’s U.S. version is already in development, according to people close to the deal, but no one really knows when—or if—it will ever see the light of day.

Blackstone’s exit doesn’t kill the deal, but it sure makes it harder to close. It’s also a reminder that even the biggest firms can get spooked when the politics get weird and the timelines keep shifting. Investors don’t love uncertainty, and TikTok right now is one giant question mark wrapped in geopolitical drama.

The bottom line? No one’s commenting. Not TikTok. Not ByteDance. And definitely not Blackstone. For now, the world’s most viral app remains caught between two superpowers, a pile of private equity, and a deadline that feels more like a moving target. Stay tuned. Or scroll on.

Rapid Fire

🦆 DuckDuckGo just gave users a new way to cut through the AI noise. The privacy-first browser rolled out a feature that lets you filter out AI-generated images from your search results. If you’ve ever tried to find a real photo and ended up scrolling past a dozen fake-looking AI pictures, this one’s for you. All you have to do is search, click over to the Images tab, and use the new “AI images” drop-down menu to choose whether you want to show or hide them. You can also head straight to noai.duckduckgo.com, where the filter is turned on by default and even Duck AI summaries are shut off.

The filter works using open-source blocklists, pulling from community favorites like uBlock Origin and the uBlacklist project. It is not perfect, some AI images will still sneak through, but it cuts down the clutter. DuckDuckGo says its north star is keeping features private, useful, and optional. Unlike Google or Bing, which are racing to push more AI content into every corner of search, DuckDuckGo is betting that giving users control will win loyalty. It is a small but sharp move in the ongoing fight to keep search results real and relevant.

👾 Microsoft just pulled the plug on using China-based engineers to support U.S. military cloud systems. The move came after a ProPublica report raised red flags about engineers in China helping the Pentagon while being “supervised” by American subcontractors who had security clearances but not much technical know-how. That story sparked enough heat for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to step in fast. He posted a video Friday saying there’s now a two-week review of all Defense Department cloud contracts and that any trace of Chinese involvement ends now.

The fallout didn’t stop there. Senator Tom Cotton fired off a letter demanding a full list of contractors using Chinese workers and a breakdown of how these so-called “digital escorts” are trained. Microsoft responded by saying they’ve already updated their policies to keep China-based teams away from government projects. This is not just a PR cleanup. It’s a clear shift in how the U.S. is handling cybersecurity in an era where China’s digital reach is viewed as a top national threat. The bigger takeaway? Trust in global engineering teams is shrinking fast when national security is on the line.

🎤 Andy Byron, the now former CEO of Astronomer, just found out the hard way that what happens on the kiss cam can wreck your career. At a Coldplay concert in Massachusetts, he was caught on the big screen getting a little too cozy with Kristin Cabot, the company’s chief people officer. Her reaction said everything. She looked shocked, turned away, and tried to disappear. He ducked too. Coldplay’s Chris Martin joked they were either painfully shy or up to something. That clip went viral faster than you can say "HR violation" and by the weekend, Byron was out. First on leave, then fully gone.

Astronomer tossed out the usual PR statement about values and accountability, but the internet had already made up its mind. People were not searching for their data tools. They were looking for the scandal. The company, backed by Salesforce Ventures and other big investors, found itself in the middle of a public mess it did not see coming. One awkward concert moment turned into a corporate crisis. Just goes to show, in the social media era, your biggest risk might be sitting front row at a Coldplay show.

Tech Radar

Windsurf was on the ropes. Their CEO and key researchers had just been poached by Google in a massive licensing deal. The OpenAI talks had fallen apart. Morale hit the floor. At an all-hands meeting, people were crying, others were furious, and no one had a clue what came next. Jeff Wang, now interim CEO, called the mood very bleak. And yeah, no surprise there. When your leadership team bails and the big money walks away, you're not just having a rough week. You're watching the company flatline in real time.

Then out of nowhere, Cognition texted. By Monday, they agreed to buy Windsurf’s product, intellectual property, brand, and team. And unlike Google, they actually took care of the employees. Everyone still standing got paid, got full vesting, and got to breathe again. It flipped the vibe completely. People went from panic mode to popping champagne. The whole thing is a masterclass in how fast fortunes can change in tech. One day you're toast. The next, you're the plot twist.

Recently Deployed

Greptile, the fast-growing AI startup out of Y Combinator, is reportedly raising a 30 million dollar Series A led by Benchmark. That would give it a jaw-dropping 180 million dollar valuation. Not bad for a company founded by a 22 year old just a year ago. Greptile’s pitch is simple but powerful. It acts like a veteran engineer who already knows your entire codebase and reviews pull requests with full context. Teams at PostHog, Raycast, Vouch, Podium, and even Y Combinator itself use it to catch bugs and push code four times faster. The deal is not closed yet, but Benchmark’s interest shows just how hot the AI code review space has become.

This leap from a 4 million dollar seed to 180 million in under 18 months is not just fast, it is aggressive. Greptile is going up against deep-pocketed rivals like Graphite, which recently raised 52 million from Accel and Anthropic. But what sets Greptile apart might be its culture. Founder Daksh Gupta went viral last year for posting that the company offers no work life balance. His team works from 9 in the morning to 11 at night, including most weekends. Some called it brutal. Others called it focused. Either way, Greptile is building fast, chasing scale, and betting that relentless output will keep them ahead in the AI arms race.

That’s a wrap.

Private equity is flinching, CEOs are flailing, and AI is either fixing your code or quietly taking your job. Whether you're team Greptile or team “please stop raising Series A rounds at 180 million,” one thing's clear—tech drama is moving faster than your attention span.

We'll be back tomorrow with more chaos, more code, and hopefully fewer awkward kiss cam moments. Until then, scroll responsibly.