President Donald Trump said he would be open to billionaire supporter Elon Musk or Oracle Corp. Chairman Larry Ellison purchasing social video app TikTok as part of a joint venture with the US government.
The billionaire declined to share details on his sources of financing, but said private equity firms and family offices have reached out.
"Shark Tank" investor Kevin O'Leary has said that he, in collaboration with former Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt, would be interested in purchasing the app.YouTuber MrBeast also said in an X post on January 13,
Frank McCourt’s Project Liberty and other investors have submitted a bid to buy TikTok from China-based ByteDance after a court-ordered divestiture or shutdown.
The President said he would be open to the US billionaires purchasing social video app TikTok as part of a joint venture with the US government.
Billionaire Frank McCourt, Shark Tank investor Kevin O'Leary, tech entrepreneur Jesse Tinsley and MrBeast have all expressed interest in TikTok
China’s foreign and commerce ministries didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment on whether Beijing would allow the American government to own part of TikTok.
He proposed this deal during a press conference announcing a $500 billion investment in artificial intelligence infrastructure, though its legal feasibility remains unclear.
While TikTok temporarily went offline over the weekend, Trump signed an executive order on Jan. 20 – his first day in office – to extend the deadline for a sale by 75 days. While it’s not clear that Trump has the authority to extend the deadline,
U.S. businessman Frank McCourt is open to teaming up with other buyers on a bid to take over the U.S. operations of TikTok as long as he can maintain control of the asset, he told Reuters at the Davos event on Thursday.
Content creator Jimmy Donaldson, known on the Internet as MrBeast, has made it clear he is interested in buying TikTok. Donaldson has the most subscribers of any user on YouTube— over 340 million—and boasts over 113 million TikTok followers.
MrBeast, one of the most successful internet creators, may join a bid by real estate mogul and Project Liberty founder Frank McCourt to buy TikTok's U.S. arm, McCourt told Axios' Sara Fischer in Davos on Wednesday.