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ByteDance can avert a so-called TikTok ban in the US by selling the platform to a US-based entity.
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Finding a buyer won’t be easy due to TikTok’s value and the intervention of the Chinese government.
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But there are still people throwing their hat in the ring. Here’s a look at who has expressed interest.
Buyers are beginning to raise their hands for what might be one the biggest — and most geopolitically tense — sales in recent history.
The US House of Representatives passed a bipartisan bill this week that would essentially ban TikTok in the United States unless its parent company, ByteDance, can find a US-based buyer within six months of the bill becoming law.
While the legislation still needs to pass the Senate and President Joe Biden still needs to sign it, all indications are that it will likely pass.
The wildly popular social media platform’s US business is worth somewhere between $35 to $40 billion, which means that finding a buyer whose pockets are deep enough isn’t going to be easy. And with over 170 million users in the United States alone, any tech giant that foots the bill — since companies like Meta, Google, and Microsoft might be the only ones with the funds — will likely run into antitrust concerns.
And even if the bill goes through, TikTok appears to be gearing up for a legal battle. It is already mobilizing users to call their local representatives to express their opposition.
It’s also possible that the Chinese government will intervene.
When lawmakers in Washington called for a sale of TikTok back in 2020, China’s commerce ministry said the government would need to sign off, according to The New York Times. China’s then foreign minister, Wang Wenbin, also said the United States was “resorting to hegemonic moves when one could not succeed in fair competition.”
So the prospect that TikTok will be transferred to a US entity remains theoretical at best.
But that hasn’t stopped a handful of people from publicly expressing their interest in buying the platform. Here’s a rundown of everyone who is so far vying to be TikTok’s next owner.
Former Activision CEO Bobby Kotick
The former CEO of gaming giant Activision reportedly floated the idea of buying TikTok to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman during a dinner at the Sun Valley Conference last week, according to The Wall Street Journal reports, who cited sources familiar with the conversations.
Former Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin
The former treasury secretary said on Thursday that he was assembling a group of investors to buy TikTok.
“I think the legislation should pass — I think it should be sold,” Mnuchin told CNBC, diverging with his former boss, President Donald Trump, who has said he opposes the bill.
“I understand the technology. It’s a great business. And I’m going to put together a group to buy TikTok,'” Mnuchin said. He did not offer specific names but said the group would be organized such that “no one investor controls this.”
Entrepreneur and investor Kevin O’Leary
The Shark Tank investor has said he’d buy the platform or join a syndicate that plans on buying it, in an interview on Fox News last week.
“Not going to get banned because I’m gonna buy it,” O’Leary said. “Somebody’s going to buy it. It won’t be Meta, and it won’t be Google because…regulator [will] stop that.”
O’Leary also proposed launching a bipartisan group to overhaul the company and place it under US control.
“This is worth billions. It’s one of the most successful advertising platforms in social media today,” O’Leary said. “All my companies use it. I’ll buy it.”
Oracle cofounder Larry Ellison and Walmart
Back in 2020, after former President Donald Trump issued two executive orders demanding that TikTok divest its US operations to a US company, Oracle and Walmart came together in an attempt to take a stake in the US spinoff. TikTok defeated Trump’s order in court. But it also partnered with Oracle on Project Texas, an initiative that routed American user data to Oracle-owned servers.
Since the House passed the bill, neither company has yet said publicly whether they would make another offer.
Read the original article on Business Insider