Here’s who could buy TikTok when the ban starts

On January 20, 2025By Littum

Upper line

AI search engine startup Perplexity AI has reportedly made a bid to merge with TikTok as other companies and billionaires are rumored to be buying ByteDance’s popular social media app to navigate around a US ban. (UPDATE: TikTok says it’s “restoring service”—read more here.)

“Shark Tank” investor Kevin O’Leary said he set aside $20 billion for the app.

ABC via Getty Images

Key facts

Perplexity AI made an offer to ByteDance to merge the company with TikTok and New Capital Partners in a deal that would allow most of ByteDance’s investors to keep their stakes, a source familiar with the situation said. CNBC.

Chinese officials have considered selling TikTok’s US operations to Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk As China debates navigating a relationship with President-elect Donald Trump, whose ties to Musk have strained in recent months, Bloomberg reported (ByteDance, responding to Bloomberg’s report, told Forbes that it “cannot be expected to comment on pure fiction.”)

YouTuber MrBeastwhose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, wrote on X he would “buy TikTok so it doesn’t get banned,” later claims he had “so many billionaires” reaching out to him and saying he wanted to “see if we can pull this off.”

Project Freedoman internet advocacy group run by billionaire Frank McCourtsubmitted one proposal—backed by “Shark Tank” investor Kevin O’Leary, Guggenheim Securities and others — on Jan. 9 to buy TikTok’s US-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 and said the Supreme Court upheld a law banning the app in the United States so it could be sold to an “American syndicate.”

A former TikTok employee suggested it to Forbes Amazon could potentially buy the app as Amazon – the third largest advertiser on the app – has deepened its relationship with the platform after announcing a partnership that will allow users to browse and buy Amazon products on TikTok.

The video sharing platform Rumble is offered to buy TikTok in March 2024 and said the company was “ready to join a consortium with other parties” to buy the app, though neither Rumble nor CEO Chris Pavlovski disclosed details of the offer.

Bobby KotickActivision Blizzard’s former CEO, expressed interest in buying TikTok and has floated the idea with the OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and others to help finance the deal, according to to the Wall Street Journal, though Kotick has not commented publicly on the offer.

Former Minister of Finance Steve Mnuchin told CNBC in March 2024 that he planned to “put together a group” to buy TikTok later narrator Bloomberg reported in May that he had reached out to “many tech companies” to buy the app and recreate its algorithm, which ByteDance has said would not be included in a sale.

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News Peg

A nationwide ban on TikTok went into effect on Sunday, and the platform took itself offline for US users minutes earlier.

Which 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 “weirdest thing I’ve ever worked on” — nearly closed before falling apart. Oracle and Walmart announced in September 2020, the companies had reached an agreement to acquire TikTok, but that deal fell apart after the Biden administration reportedly prevented it from moving forward to address the app’s potential security risks.

How much is Tiktok worth?

Dan Ives, analyst for Wedbush Securities, told CBS, the financial services firm, had valued TikTok at around $100 billion including the algorithm. Ives has also suggested that ByteDance could expect $40 billion to $50 billion for the platform’s US operations.

Will Trump end the Tiktok ban?

Trump announced On Sunday, he will delay the TikTok ban when he resumes office on Monday to “make a deal to protect our national security,” and suggested that TikTok switch to a joint venture with at least 50% American ownership. He has the power to suspend the law for 90 days if ByteDance makes progress toward a sale, potentially allowing TikTok to temporarily return to the US market. 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 expressed concern for years about TikTok’s ties to China. Forbes has previously reported on TikTok spying on journalists, promoting Chinese propaganda on the app criticizing US politicians, misusing 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, arguing in a legal filing in May that the proposed ban was “simply not possible: not commercially, not technologically, not legally.”

Forbes valuation

Musk is the richest 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 of $1.4 billion.