Now that the TikTok ban bill has been passed into law, its parent company ByteDance will have no other choice but to divest its US business or Shit down operations in the US. Since TikTok is a popular app, anyone who can afford it might jump at the chance to acquire it, and there are already a couple who are interested.
Frank McCourt Will Bid on TikTok
Also known as a billionaire real estate mogul, the former Los Angeles Dodgers owner is reportedly interested in acquiring the social media giant TikTok. He will have to compete with others who have already expressed their intentions as well.
Some of the competitors include former Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and reality show host Kevin O'Leary, as reported by Gizmodo. Of course, that won't matter if ByteDance decides that it doesn't want to sell, which is already looking that way.
McCourt has his own intentions and vision for the platform, saying that he plans to make "a new and better version of the internet, where individuals are respected and they own and control their identity and their data."
If people want to bank on someone who is capable of creating a secure and safe environment for the app, McCourt is arguably one of the best bidders. He already has a background in such projects which makes him well-suited for ownership of a huge app.
Back in 2021, the real estate mogul formed an initiative called Project Liberty, which advocates for open internet protocols. Even the creator of the web, Tim Berners-Lee, applauded McCourt saying that he will "embrace the critical values of privacy, data sovereignty, and user mental health."
The other two have a more specific plan in mind, particularly putting the company in American hands. Mnuchin has a more steady argument saying that China would never allow the US to have a company as big as TikTok in China.
O'Leary, on the other hand, is peddling a more ambitious tone. After saying that he would buy TikTok once the order went through, the show host said that he would purchase the assets into a new American company, as mentioned in Fox Business.
" I'll guarantee the servers are on American soil. I'll guarantee you will close the Chinese back doors in the code. I'll guarantee it becomes safe for the users, the parents, small business, and large business," O'Leary stated.
ByteDance Has No Intention to Sell
All these pitches are rendered moot if ByteDance doesn't want to sell, and it looks like the parent company would rather put its business out of the US instead of granting an American buyer ownership of the TikTok company.
After stating that ByteDance doesn't have any plans to sell TikTok, the company sued the US government in an attempt to block the ban, as per CNBC. As expected, the social media company said that the law violates the First Amendment.
In addition to that, the divesture is "simply not possible: not commercially, not technologically, not legally," which is stated in TikTok's legal filing. Admittedly, there will be a lot of complications in separating the US business from TikTok as a whole.
