The bid is backed by leading investment firm Guggenheim Securities, and also includes English computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee, famously the creator of the “World Wide Web.” In a statement on Thursday, McCourt outlined his plans for the platform:
“By bringing leading academics, technologists, behavioral scientists, psychologists and economic experts together with community partners, parents and citizens, we believe we can preserve – and enhance – the TikTok experience by giving individuals and creators on the platform the value and control they deserve regarding who has access to their data and how it is used.”
Elsewhere, Elon Musk’s name has been floated. The X CEO and richest man in the world could certainly afford TikTok, and a surprise visit to Beijing in April 2024 prompted speculation that he might be interested. However, he quickly moved to distance himself from such rumors, writing on X that, “TikTok should not be banned in the USA, even though such a ban may benefit the X platform. Doing so would be contrary to freedom of speech and expression. It is not what America stands for.”
Of course, there’s another issue to consider: just how many people could actually afford TikTok. It’s unclear how much the US version of the app would cost, but ByteDance has been valued at no less than $225 billion.
Notably, McCourt’s bid does not include the famous TikTok algorithm, which would fetch a considerably higher price. In an attempt to allay concerns about how they could replicate TikTok’s success without it, last week, O’Leary posted on X: “We’ll buy it without the algorithm. We don’t need them. We’ll do it ourselves and make TikTok wonderful again.” Perhaps we shall see.
