Canadian businessman Kevin O’Leary plans to form a group of investors for a possible purchase of the Chinese video service TikTok, CNBC reported on March 17.
According to the channel, the businessman clarified that the initial offer could range between 20 and 30 billion dollars. TikTok was valued at $220 billion last year, according to PitchBook.
O’Leary, whose net worth is estimated at between $400 million and $500 million, emphasized that the deal would not include sharing data about user preference algorithms that are key to TikTok’s popularity. “Buying TikTok without its revolutionary algorithms will force us to recreate them in American codes, turning ‘Chinese TikTok’ into ‘American TikTok'”, – he said. O’Leary also suggested that the Chinese government, which controls TikTok’s parent company ByteDance, is unlikely to hand over the data.
Discussions over a possible ban on TikTok in the US or its spin-off from ByteDance continue amid concerns that the Chinese government could use the service to collect Americans’ data and influence public opinion. The first restrictions for American users were introduced in 2020 by the Donald Trump administration, but court proceedings delayed their implementation. Under the Joe Biden administration, an executive order was issued banning use of the app on government employees’ work devices. The US House of Representatives recently passed a bill requiring ByteDance to spin off its US business into an independent company within six months; Otherwise, TikTok could be banned in the country.
Source: Rossa Primavera
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