Topline
President Joe Biden signed into law Wednesday a bill that would ban TikTok unless its parent company ByteDance finds a U.S.-based buyer—and several potential U.S. buyers have already signaled interest in or have been rumored to be exploring purchasing the popular social media platform.
Key Facts
Steve Mnuchin: The investment banker and film producer who served in the Trump Administration as the U.S. treasury secretary has publicly stated his interest in purchasing TikTok, telling CNBC in March that he was planning to “put together a group” to pull it off.
Kevin O’Leary: The Canadian businessman famous for being a judge on “Shark Tank” has been vocal about his interest in purchasing TikTok, telling CNBC in March he’d put together a group to make a $20 billion to $30 billion starting bid—roughly 90% less than what the company is believed to be worth—due to the possibility that the app would likely be sold without the algorithms or data that make it successful.
Rumble: Video-sharing platform Rumble in March made a public offer to buy TikTok, sharing a letter from CEO Chris Pavlovski to TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew on X, formerly Twitter, claiming the company was “ready to join a consortium with other parties seeking to acquire and operate TikTok inside the U.S.”
Bobby Kotick: Kotick stepped down from his role as CEO of the gaming company Activision Blizzard last year and has since been reportedly looking for partners for a potential TikTok purchase, at least according to the Wall Street Journal—Kotick has not commented publicly on the report, and he could not immediately be reached for comment.
Oracle/Walmart: Neither Oracle nor Walmart have publicly expressed recent public interest in buying TikTok, but the two companies teamed up to buy the platform back in 2020 and nearly succeeded until the Biden Administration reportedly stopped it from moving forward to better address the app’s potential security concerns—Forbes has contacted both Oracle and Walmart for comment.
Microsoft: Microsoft also flirted with buying TikTok in 2020, as the two companies entered talks that ultimately collapsed and could potentially re-enter the playing field again—though CEO Satya Nadella said in 2021 after the deal fell through that “I’m happy with what I have.” (Forbes has contacted Microsoft for comment).
What To Watch For
Big tech companies like Meta or Google could likely afford to make a play for TikTok, but the likelihood of antitrust scrutiny will probably keep them on the sidelines, Florian Ederer, a Boston University professor of markets, public policy and law told ABC News. That doesn’t mean they won’t have skin in the game—Meta and Google likely have the most to gain if TikTok shut down in the U.S. Analysts from the firm Wedbush predict that most of TikTok’s digital advertising would divert to Google or Meta’s Facebook and Instagram.
Key Background
TikTok has long been a source of concern among U.S. officials from both parties who fear its Chinese ownership poses a national security threat. Attempts to force the platform to sell to a U.S. company are not new—in 2020, former President Donald Trump signed an executive order that threatened to ban TikTok unless it was sold to a U.S. company (though he has since come out in opposition of a TikTok ban). That order prompted a bidding war for the platform that brought Oracle, Walmart and Microsoft out as potential buyers. The Biden Administration later overturned that order, but the skepticism remained, as Biden used a subsequent order to call for a review of foreign-controlled social media platforms like TikTok. TikTok has denied it shares user data with China and has criticized the latest law.
Big Number
$268 billion. That’s how much ByteDance is reportedly worth. The Wall Street Journal reports that a potential sale of TikTok could cost upwards of $100 billion.
