MrBeast Makes Official Bid for TikTok

YouTube star MrBeast, alongside high-profile investors, officially bids for TikTok as the platform faces a potential U.S. ban. Learn about the deal, national security concerns, and competing offers.

Jan 22, 2025 - 06:10
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MrBeast Makes Official Bid for TikTok
MrBeast celebrates the premiere of the new Prime Video series Beast Games at a content creator special screening on December 18, 2024 in Santa Monica, California.

YouTube and TikTok star MrBeast, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, is reportedly part of a group of investors looking to purchase TikTok as the platform faces a 75-day deadline to secure a non-Chinese owner or risk a permanent ban in the United States.

Okay fine, I’ll buy TikTok so it doesn’t get banned, Donaldson jokingly posted on X (formerly Twitter) on January 13. However, his lawyer later confirmed to CNN that his interest in acquiring the platform is genuine.

The investor group, which includes Donaldson and is led by Jesse Tinsley, CEO of Employer.com, comprises institutional investors and high-net-worth individuals who aim to prevent the app's removal from the U.S. market. Their proposal seeks to maintain TikTok's operations uninterrupted, ensuring continuity for its 170 million American users while addressing national security concerns.

Donaldson also reiterated his intent in a TikTok video, stating, I just got out of a meeting with a bunch of billionaires. TikTok, we mean business. This is my lawyer right here; we have an offer ready for you. We want to buy the platform.

This bid comes in response to the Supreme Court's decision to uphold a federal law requiring TikTok to be sold to a non-China-based company. A spokesperson for Paul Hastings, the law firm representing the consortium, confirmed the group’s intent and described the offer as a win-win solution. The bid amount has not been disclosed, and TikTok has yet to comment on the matter.

Discussions about a potential sale of TikTok to a U.S.-based company have been ongoing since 2020, when former President Donald Trump issued an executive order attempting to ban the app.

Last week, the Supreme Court unanimously upheld a federal law mandating that ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, sell the platform to a non-China-based entity to avoid a nationwide ban.

TikTok temporarily went offline on Saturday, displaying a message that read: Sorry, TikTok isn’t available right now. A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the U.S. Unfortunately, that means you can’t use TikTok for now. The app resumed operations after Trump announced he would sign an executive order delaying the law’s enforcement.

The executive order, signed Monday evening following his inauguration, provides a 75-day extension before the ban takes effect. However, it does not offer a permanent resolution.

ByteDance must either agree to sell the platform—despite its stated reluctance—or the administration would need to enact new legislation to overturn the existing law. Given the strong bipartisan support for the current legislation, the latter option appears highly unlikely.

Chinese officials are reportedly considering selling at least a portion of TikTok to tech tycoon Elon Musk, according to reports from The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg. CNN has not independently verified these discussions, and both ByteDance and Musk declined to comment.

Another prominent bid comes from The People’s Bid for TikTok, a group that includes Shark Tank star Kevin O’Leary and billionaire Frank McCourt. The group is backed by investments from Guggenheim Securities and Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web.

According to Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives, TikTok’s U.S. assets—excluding its algorithm—are valued between $40 billion and $50 billion. However, since the algorithm is widely considered to be the core of TikTok’s value, determining an exact figure for the company remains challenging.

While McCourt’s group has not disclosed the specifics of its offer, McCourt previously suggested he values TikTok’s assets at approximately $20 billion. We will refrain from publicly sharing the financial specifics of our offer until ByteDance is in a position to review our proposal, O’Leary and McCourt’s group stated last week.

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