Topline
The AI search engine startup Perplexity AI has reportedly submitted a bid to merge with TikTok, as other companies and billionaires have rumored to be, or have expressed in, buying ByteDance’s popular social media app to navigate around a U.S. ban. (UPDATE: TikTok was banned Sunday—follow live updates here.)
“Shark Tank” investor Kevin O’Leary said he put up $20 billion for the app.
Key Facts
Perplexity AI submitted an offer to ByteDance to merge the company with TikTok and New Capital Partners, in a deal that would allow for most of ByteDance’s investors to retain their equity stakes, a source familiar with the situation told CNBC.
Chinese government officials have considered selling TikTok’s U.S. operations to Tesla CEO Elon Musk as China discusses navigating a relationship with President-elect Donald Trump, whose ties to Musk have tightened in recent months, Bloomberg reported (ByteDance, responding to Bloomberg’s report, told Forbes it “can’t be expected to comment on pure fiction.”)
YouTuber MrBeast, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, wrote on X he would “buy TikTok so it doesn’t get banned,” later claiming he had “so many billionaires” reach out to him and said he would “see if we can pull this off.”
Project Liberty, an internet advocacy group run by billionaire Frank McCourt, submitted a proposal—backed by “Shark Tank” investor Kevin O’Leary, Guggenheim Securities and others—on Jan. 9 to buy TikTok’s U.S.-based assets, saying the group would restructure the company to collect less user data.
O’Leary told Fox he put $20 billion “on the table” for TikTok, saying the Supreme Court backed a law banning the app in the U.S. so that it could be sold to an “American syndicate.”
A former TikTok employee suggested to Forbes that Amazon could potentially purchase the app, as Amazon—the third-largest advertiser on the app—has deepened its relationship with the platform after announcing a partnership allowing users to browse and purchase Amazon products on TikTok.
The video-sharing platform Rumble offered to buy TikTok in March 2024, saying the company was “ready to join a consortium with other parties” to purchase the app, though neither Rumble nor CEO Chris Pavlovski disclosed details about the offer.
Bobby Kotick, Activision Blizzard’s former CEO, expressed interest in purchasing TikTok and has floated the idea with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and others to help finance the deal, according to the Wall Street Journal, though Kotick has not commented publicly on the offer.
Former Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin told CNBC in March 2024 he planned to “put together a group” to buy TikTok, later telling Bloomberg in May he had reached out to “a lot of tech companies” about buying the app and recreating its algorithm, which ByteDance has said would not be included in a sale.
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News Peg
A nationwide ban on TikTok took effect Sunday, and the platform took itself offline for U.S. users minutes earlier.
What Companies Have Tried To Buy Tiktok?
Microsoft reportedly offered to buy TikTok from ByteDance in August 2020, and the deal—referred to by Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella as the “strangest thing I’ve ever worked on”—nearly closed before falling apart. Oracle and Walmart announced in September 2020 the companies had reached a deal to acquire TikTok, but that deal fell through after the Biden administration reportedly stopped it from moving forward to address the app’s potential security risks.
How Much Is Tiktok Worth?
Dan Ives, an analyst for Wedbush Securities, told CBS the financial services firm had valued TikTok at about $100 billion including the algorithm. Ives has also suggested ByteDance could expect $40 billion to $50 billion for the platform’s U.S. operations.
Will Trump Stop The Tiktok Ban?
Trump announced Sunday he will delay the TikTok ban when he retakes office Monday in order to “make a deal to protect our national security,” and proposed TikTok shift to a joint venture with at least 50% U.S. ownership. He has the power to halt the law for 90 days if ByteDance is making progress toward a sale, potentially allowing TikTok to return to the U.S. market temporarily. Read more about Trump’s options here.
Key Background
President Joe Biden signed a law in April 2024 that included a nationwide ban on TikTok unless ByteDance sold the app, after lawmakers for years expressed concerns about TikTok’s ties to China. Forbes previously reported about TikTok spying on journalists, promoting Chinese propaganda on the app criticizing U.S. politicians, mishandling user data—including financial information, Social Security numbers and personal contacts—and tracking “sensitive words.” TikTok and ByteDance have denied any wrongdoing or links to the Chinese government, claiming in a legal filing in May the proposed ban was “simply not possible: not commercially, not technologically, not legally.”
Forbes Valuation
Musk is the wealthiest person on Earth with an estimated net worth of $428.8 billion. McCourt, the former owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers, has a net worth valued at $1.4 billion.
