Real estate billionaire Frank McCourt, the former owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers, said he’s begun efforts to acquire TikTok following legislation signed into law last month that requires the social media platform to sell to a non-Chinese owner or be banned in the U.S. McCourt didn’t share his views on how much the platform is worth or how much he is willing to spend on TikTok, nor did he comment on the likelihood that the Chinese government will opposed a forced.
The billionaire has long been critical of large tech companies that he says exploit their users, and he said acquiring TikTok, currently owned by China-based ByteDance, has potential for changing how social media works. His plan would be to operate the short-form video app on an open-source, decentralized protocol that allows users to control their own data.
McCourt is working with Guggenheim Securities, an investment firm, and the law firm Kirkland & Ellis to put together the bid. He said the proposal is also backed by the inventor of the World Wide Web, Sir Tim Berners-Lee.
However, he’s not the only one looking into purchasing TikTok. Former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in March that he’s putting together a bid, as did Kevin O’Leary, the Canadian chairperson of O’Leary Ventures, a private venture capital firm. TikTok, however, has not indicated that it’s for sale and is currently suing to block the law.
