TikTok in the crosshairs of US lawmakers: either ByteDance sells or ban. Former Activision CEO Kotick comes forward
Bill under consideration in the US House. Wsj: Kotick steps forward for purchase, and has contacted a pool of other possible investors, including OpenAI CEO Sam Altman
2' min read
2' min read
A bill being considered by the US House of Representatives ignites interest from possible US buyers in the short video platform TikTok, currently owned by China's ByteDance. And coming forward is Bobby Kotick, former CEO of video game company Activision, who is working to build a pool of possible buyers, including OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.
Tiktok has been under indictment for years, with US lawmakers long concerned about the possibility of the app's Beijing-based parent company sharing data on its users with the Chinese government and the Asian giant's rulers using the platform to shape the political views of Americans. However, efforts seemed to have stalled until this week, when a new bill was approved by the US House Committee on Energy and Commerce by a unanimous vote of 50-0. The bill is expected to be submitted to the House vote on Wednesday 13 March, with a high probability of being confirmed, and then move to the Senate.
Five months to comply
.The bill would require parent company ByteDance to divest TikTok or face banning the platform from app stores and web hosting services in the US. ByteDance would have a little over five months from the bill's enactment to comply.
More than 170 million US users currently access TikTok.
Kotick's billion-dollar proposal
.In view of a possible ban if the platform remains in Chinese hands, however, according to reports in the Wall Street Journal and other newspapers, a purchase offer has arrived from Bobby Kotick, former CEO of Activision, who has reportedly expressed his interest directly to ByteDance co-founder Zhang Yiming. The amount of the possible deal is not yet known, but it would still be a hundreds of billions of dollars deal.
