TikTok could have new owners in the future, as fomer Activision Blizzard boss Bobby Kotick has reportedly expressed interest in purchasing the social media platform. According to The Wall Street Journal, Kotick has approached ByteDance founder Zhang Yiming over a potential sale if the company agrees to sell it.
According to WSJ, such a sale is "estimated to be in the hundreds of billions of dollars" and Kotick would need to find partners to raise the necessary funds. One such partner could be Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, and its rumored that TikTok could be used to help train AI models for the company. Kotick also raised the idea at an Allen & Co dinner recently, to other interested parties. In 2020, Microsoft also expressed interest in acquiring TikTok, a move that saw the company's value increase by $77 billion at the time.
TikTok finds itself in the crosshairs of a new US bill, the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, which aims to "protect the national security of the United States from the threat posed by foreign adversary controlled applications". TikTok and its owner ByteDance have long been considered a possible security risk to the US due to suspected links to the Chinese government, and under the new bill if it's signed into law, ByteDance would be forced to sell the platform within six months or risk being banned in the US.
US President Joe Biden has also indicated that he is willing to sign the legislation that could lead to its ban. "If they pass it, I'll sign it," Biden said to reporters (via CBS News).
Meanwhile, Kotick has exited Activision Blizzard following the finalization of the Microsoft acquisition of the company, and with a pay package rumored to be in the area of $400 million. Kotick led the company for 32 years as its CEO, a time when he was mentioned in multiple controversies at Activision Blizzard. Activision Blizzard recently announced a settlement with the state of California and will pay $54 million to the state along with an additional $47 million to female employees who worked at the company from 2015 to 2020, after the company was accused of fostering a "frat boy" workplace culture rife with sexual harassment.
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