HONG KONG, May 31 (Reuters) - ByteDance's short video app Douyin said on Wednesday that it has held preliminary talks with Dalian Wanda Group over the conglomerate's payments unit. Bloomberg reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter, that Wanda was in talks with prospective buyers include China's ByteDance to sell its digital payments licence for about 1 billion yuan ($144 million). A spokesperson for Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, declined to provide further comment beyond acknowledging the preliminary talks. Wanda bought its payments licence in 2014 from 99Bill in a deal that allowed visitors to Wanda's venues, from department stores to cinemas, to pay online. ($1 = 6.9121 Chinese yuan renminbi)Reporting by Josh Ye and Clare Jim in Hong KongOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Persons: Wanda, Wang Jianlin, ByteDance, Josh Ye, Clare Jim Organizations: Dalian Wanda Group, Bloomberg, Douyin, Zhuhai Wanda Commercial Management Group, Thomson Locations: HONG KONG, Hong Kong, 99Bill