On the night of January 18th, many American citizens tried to access the video sharing, social media app TikTok, only to be met with a message that TikTok had been shut down in the United States. In March of 2023, TikTok CEO Shou Zi appeared before Congress and was questioned for five hours by the House Energy and Commerce Committee. The basis of this hearing was to determine whether or not TikTok, and its parent company Bytedance, were sharing its users' sensitive data with the Chinese government. Ultimately the House committee decided that TikTok was sharing its users' data with the Chinese.
TikTok had roughly 170 million users in America right on par with Instagram which dropped to zero in just one short night. After the House committee ruled against TikTok, Bytedance was given an ultimatum. Sell the app to a non-Chinese national company or shut down US operations. Now the parent company Bytedance is reported to be worth $225 billion while TikTok itself is believed to be “well worth” over $100 billion, but not all hope is lost. At the end of the message that now appears when opening the app it says, “President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok once he takes office.” In addition to this, he had been on record saying he has a “soft spot” in his heart for TikTok.
If TikTok sells, who is going to be the one to make the billion-dollar deal? One possible purchaser is former LA Dodger owner McCourt. He has now sent a letter to Bytedance offering to buy TikTok with hopes of running it with a focus on privacy and safer use of data. Other potential buyers include various private equity firms but there are a few more high-profile, high-net-worth individuals rumored to be interested. One of these is Shark Tank business mogul Kevin O'Leary, who has offered $20 billion in cash to purchase the app without the video suggesting algorithm that intrinsically makes the app so valuable. The richest man in the world Elon Musk is rumored to be in the mix to purchase the app. Musk is no stranger to shelling out large sums of money to buy social media apps, like when he bought Twitter for $44 billion in early 2022. He also seems a likely candidate given that he is very close with the president-elect. As of now, TikTok remains operational but we might see a change in ownership, especially with the newly inaugurated President Trump.
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