August 31, 2020- Biz in 60

New Chinese rules threaten sale of TikTok's US operations TikTok's Chinese parent company, ByteDance, will now need to get approval from Beijing in order to sell its US operations to comply with the Trump administration's demands. The Chinese government has added artificial intelligence technology to a list of export-controlled products on national security grounds. The White House has threatened to ban TikTok if a sale does not go through. Warren Buffet spends $6B on stakes in Japan trading houses Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway has bought stakes in Japan's five major trading houses. The investment company has acquired around 5-percent of each of the so-called 'sogo sho-sha' trading houses for a total of 6.3-billion dollars. It comes as more foreign investors leave the Japanese market. Berkshire says it may increase its holdings to 9.9-percent. French utility Veolia to buy 29.9% of rival Suez for $3.5B French utility firm, Veolia, has offered 3-and- a-half billion dollars to buy nearly 30-percent of rival company, Suez. The merger would create a global company in waste and water services with an annual turnover of around 48-billion dollars. The bid comes as European waste firms like Veolia attempt to fend-off looming competition in the sector from China.