That knowing the uncertain future of Tiktok in the United States and people who want to buy it
TiktokHeld by Chinese company Bytedance, has been at the center of controversy in the United States for four years due to concerns about user data potentially accessible by the Chinese government. Last month, the application experienced a temporary breakdown in the United States which left millions of on suspense users before it was quickly restored.
Tiktok has returned to the App Store and Google Play Store in February.
However, Tiktok’s future remains uncertain and a number of investors are in competition for the opportunity to buy the application. American platform activities may have its valuation to hover upwards $ 60 billionAs estimated by the main vice-president of CFRA Research, Angelo Zino.
Tiktok Ban: what has happened so far
To fully understand this drama with high issues, we will first come back to the Tiktok’s tumultuous relationship calendar with the American government, which led to various battles and legal negotiations.
The drama started August 2020When Trump signed a decree to prohibit transactions with the parent company Bytedance.
A month later, Trump’s administration sought to force Tiktok American operations to a company based in the United States. The main contenders included Microsoft, Oracle and Walmart. However, an American judge temporarily blocked Trump’s decree, allowing Tiktok to continue working while the legal battle was taking place.
Things started to progress even more last year after the transition to the Biden administration. The American House of Representatives, in a crushing vote of 360-58adopted legislation against Tiktok. April 23, 2024, The Senate adopted the bill.
Shortly after, President Joe Biden Signed the bill requiring Tiktok to be sold or prohibited. In response, Tiktok continued the US governmentContesting the constitutionality of the prohibition and the fact that the application and its American users have violated their rights to the first amendment. The company has always denied that it represents a threat of security, saying that its data stored in the United States complies with all local laws.
Trump has a change of heart
On December 27, 2024, Trump opposite Tiktok’s potential prohibition in a legal file, declaring that he could find a way to keep the application in the United States, this position was a striking contrast with his approach during his first presidency and presented a turn of surprising events for Tiktok.
In January, The United States Supreme Court Maintained the protection of Americans of the Act on Foreign Controlled Applications (PAFACA), commonly known as “Tiktok prohibition”. Tiktok made an official announcement that he should probably darken on January 19.
Tiktok stops… then comes back online
Although Tiktok indeed stop In the United States, when the act has entered into force, it did not last long. The application I came back online Less than 12 hours later. The platform noted: “Following President Trump’s efforts, Tiktok is back in the United States”
Where we are today
January 20Trump has signed an executive decree that postponed Tiktok’s ban for 75 days. This extension provides the application an additional time to sell a participation in the platform or conclude an agreement with Trump. Its objective is to achieve a property agreement from 50 to 50 between Bytedance and an American company.
More recently, early MarchTrump told journalists that his administration was in talks with four different groups who wish to buy the platform, by Reuters.
No final case has yet been concluded for the sale of the platform, but we could find out very soon.
You will find below a list of groups of investors and companies which prefer to be potential buyers of the US operations of Tiktok. (Surprisingly, Elon Musk is not among them.)
The people’s offer for Tiktok
The people’s offer for Tiktok is a consortium organized by Project Liberty Founder Frank McCourtWho is also the former owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers. The investment firm Guggenheim Securities and the law firm Kirkland & Ellis helps to assemble the offer. The main mission of people attempt to acquire Tiktok is to prioritize confidentiality and data control, adopting an open source approach.
The supporters involved include:
- Alexis Ohanian: The co-founder of Reddit is the most recent Technological entrepreneur to join the people’s offer, assuming the role of strategic advisor. He joined March 3.
- Kevin O’Leary: A well -known investor and a television personality which previously said Fox he was ready to buy tiktok for $ 20 billion. O’leary seal The people’s offer on January 6.
- TIM BERNERS-LEE: The inventor of the World Wide Web supports the proposal because “users should have the capacity to control their own data”, Berners-Lee said in a declaration.
- David Clark: Main scientist of the IT researcher and artificial intelligence laboratory, Clark was also appointed participant.
American Investor Consortium
Jesse TinsleyThe CEO and founder of employment.com leads a consortium of American investors. Last month, Tinsley announced a Offer of $ 30 billion in All-Cash To acquire Tiktok American operations.
- David Baszuck: Tinsley said Bloomberg that the co-founder and CEO of Roblox is a participant.
- Nathan McCauley: The co-founder and CEO of Crypto Platform Anchorage Digital was confirmed to participate in the consortium, Bloomberg reported.
Other interested parties
- Bobby Kotick: The former CEO of Activision is would have Interested in buying tiktok. With its experience in managing a large game company, its interest in application could be motivated by the potential to integrate games and social media.
- Steven Mnuchin: The former secretary of the US Treasury who served during the first term of President Trump to Reset discussions on the potential purchase of Tiktok.
- Oracle: The company previously made an offer for Tiktok in 2020. In front of the White House in January, co-founder of Oracle Larry Ellison told Trump that 50% property “seemed to be a good deal. “Information reported In March, Oracle is the first choice to serve as a Cloud technological partner to help Tiktok to execute in the United States
- Walmart: The retail giant could also watch Tiktok to improve its scope in electronic commerce, in particular given the influence of the platform on the purchasing behavior of consumers. Walmart first expressed his interest in 2020.
- Microsoft: The technology giant has previously Interest in acquiring TiktokAnd Trump mentioned that the company recently reinstated the auctions to buy the application.
- Scold: The Youtube alternative Announced on X That he wishes to acquire Tiktok and serve as a Cloud technological partner.
- AI perplexity: The start of the AI search engine submitted an offer last month, According to CNBC.
The story was updated after the publication to include new interested parties.
