Ever since President Donald Trump prolonged the sell-off of TikTok in the United States, announcing plans to organize a joint venture with China to keep the social media platform alive in the region, tech moguls have reportedly been competing for a chance to own a piece of TikTok.
On Saturday, President Trump said he would reach a decision on TikTok's future in the U.S. in the next 30 days.
Most recently, Perplexity AI -- a free AI-powered search engine -- revised its initial takeover offer for the popular short-form video app that would allow the U.S. government to own up to 50% of “NewCo,” the new company Perplexity AI is proposing, upon a future IPO.
According to CNBC, the revised merger suggests that ByteDance would contribute TikTok U.S. (without its proprietary recommendation algorithm), “in exchange for the company’s existing investors receiving equity in the new company.”
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Based on the document, money for the merger would come from “new third-party capital provider(s) (to be mutually agreed upon),” while capital would also be provided for a “one-time dividend payment to ByteDance investors in exchange for simplified governance” and platform growth strategies.
As for Perplexity’s offer, an anonymous source told CNBC that a “fair price” would be “well north of $50 billion,” but will eventually be influenced by how many of ByteDance's shareholders decide to join the new entity and which decide to cash out. Whereas the U.S. government reportedly has the chance to own up to half of the entity once it IPOs at least $300 billion.
This deal would likely align with what Trump proposed on January 19 -- “very simply, a joint venture,” he said, citing the need to “save a lot of jobs” and not giving “our business to China.”
By requiring that the U.S. federal government retain ownership of half of the platform’s future form, Trump was correct in assuming that the government was “going to have a lot of bidders.”
Along with Perplexity, other entities have proposed official bids to buy half of ByteDance’s app, such as a group called “The People's Bid for TikTok,” which includes Shark Tank’s Kevin O’Leary and billionaire Frank McCourt and is backed by investments from Guggenheim Securities, as well as World Wide Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee.
YouTube and TikTok sensation Jimmy Donaldson -- aka MrBeast -- has also said he wants to buy the platform “so it doesn't get banned.”
On January 15, Donaldson posted a video to TikTok announcing that he, along with his lawyer, “just got out of a meeting with a bunch of billionaires” and “have an offer ready” to buy the platform.
The investor group Donaldson is a part of is being led by Jesse Tinsley, the founder of Recruiter.com Ventures and Employer.com.
While the monetary amount of all official offers has not been revealed to the public, rumors have circulated about other individuals and companies that are vying for the platform.
Oracle is reportedly in talks with the Trump Administration to acquire the U.S. operations of TikTok, with officials from Oracle and the White House holding a meeting on Friday about a potential deal. However, Trump denied speaking with Oracle CEO Larry Ellison about an acquisition.
Trump has also named Microsoft as a potential buyer, but the tech giant has declined to comment.
If Microsoft does make an official offer, the company would be revisiting its attempt to buy the app in 2020, before talks collapsed and Trump left office.
Finally, X owner Elon Musk has been named by both Trump and the Chinese government as a potential buyer, but the billionaire is yet to express any desire to make a bid.