Who will buy TikTok's US shares? Elon Musk and MrBeast claims on the agenda
Artificial intelligence company Perplexity AI has reportedly submitted a bid to merge with TikTok. Before Perplexity AI's offer, international media had reported that figures such as Elon Musk, MrBeast, and Kevin O'Leary were also interested in acquiring TikTok.
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Following US President Donald Trump's decision to 'temporarily' lift the TikTok ban in the US, reports regarding the acquisition of the Chinese-origin company by Americans have increased. According to reports in the US media, Perplexity AI has submitted a merger proposal to TikTok, which faces a potential ban in the US if it is not sold.
A source speaking to CNBC stated that Perplexity AI proposed a deal to TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, that would 'allow most ByteDance investors to retain their shares.' If the offer is accepted, TikTok and Perplexity AI's New Capital Partners will be merged.
According to a Bloomberg report, Chinese government officials are considering selling TikTok's US operations to Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
Forbes reached out to ByteDance officials regarding the matter, who responded to the Bloomberg report by stating that they 'could not be expected to comment on pure fiction.'
Meanwhile, YouTuber MrBeast, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, wrote on X that he would 'buy TikTok to prevent it from being banned,' later claiming that 'numerous billionaires' had reached out to him and said, 'we'll see if we can pull this off.'
YouTuber Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast)
DID THE US SUPREME COURT TAKE SIDES?
Project Liberty, an internet rights advocacy group led by billionaire Franklin McCourt, submitted a bid to acquire TikTok's US assets on January 9, alongside 'Shark Tank' investor Kevin O'Leary.
O'Leary stated in an interview with Fox that he had 'put 20 billion dollars on the table' for TikTok. The famous billionaire claimed that the Supreme Court supported the ban, which would 'enable the app to be sold to American capital through a ban in the US.'
An unnamed TikTok employee suggested to Forbes that Amazon could potentially acquire the app. Amazon, the app's third-largest advertiser, had deepened its relationship with the platform after announcing a partnership that allows users to browse and purchase Amazon products on TikTok.
BIDS FOR TIKTOK BEGAN IN 2024
Video-sharing platform Rumble offered to acquire TikTok in March 2024. Rumble officials revealed that the company was 'prepared to join a consortium with other parties' to purchase the app.
According to the Wall Street Journal, former Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick is interested in buying TikTok. The newspaper reported that Kotick had contacted OpenAI CEO Sam Altman to secure financing. However, Kotick has not made any public comments regarding the bid.
Former Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin communicated to CNBC in March 2024 that he planned to 'form a group' to acquire TikTok.
The former Secretary announced to Bloomberg in May that he had reached out to 'many technology companies' to purchase the app and rebuild its algorithm.
While it remains uncertain whether TikTok will be sold, Perplexity AI's proposal could disrupt plans to 'Americanize' TikTok's capital.