The stage could be becoming set for a bidding war for TikTok if legislation is passed in the U.S. requiring the social media platform’s Chinese owner, ByteDance, to sell the company.
The House of Representatives on Wednesday voted in favor of a bill that would force ByteDance to either sell TikTok or face a ban in the U.S.
The bill now moves up to the Senate and, if passed there and signed by President Joe Biden, ByteDance will have five months to sell the company, or TikTok will be removed from all app stores across all formats.
The whole affair is predicated upon the notion that TikTok, because of its Chinese ownership, represents a national security threat — both in terms of the data it could potentially share with the Chinese government, and the misinformation it could spread across western democracies.
But what if the company was in U.S. hands?
Mnuchin Announces Intent To Buy
Enter two possible contenders. A group led by former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and a rival group potentially led by Bobby Kotick, former CEO of Activision Blizzard.
Following Wednesday’s House vote, Mnuchin appeared on CNBC and told presenters that he was putting together an investment group to buy TikTok.
“I think the legislation should be passed and I think it should be sold. I understand the technology, it’s a great business and I’m going to put together a group to buy TikTok,” Mnuchin said.
“It should be owned by U.S. businesses,” he ...