Group Led By Billionaire Frank McCourt Makes Formal Bid To Buy TikTok
Huff PostLOADING ERROR LOADING An organization founded by billionaire Frank McCourt, the former owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers, and its partners on Thursday said they made a formal bid to acquire the U.S. assets of TikTok as the popular social media platform faces a possible nationwide ban later this month. Project Liberty, an organization that aims to create a more equitable internet and promote the transition to an open data economy, launched The People’s Bid For TikTok last year — a consortium of partners with the aim of purchasing the U.S. operations of the platform from its Chinese parent company, ByteDance. “We’ve put forward a proposal to ByteDance to realize Project Liberty’s vision for a reimagined TikTok — one built on an American-made tech stack that puts people first,” McCourt said in a statement. Project Liberty said its plan would involve moving TikTok’s U.S. user base of about 170 million people to “American-built digital infrastructure that is designed to put people back in charge of their data and relationships.” The organization said it’s uniquely positioned to acquire the platform, in part, because it has the funds required to complete the transaction, “including expressions of interest from investors, including major private equity funds, family offices, and high net worth individuals for adequate equity capital; and debt financing from one of the largest banks in the United States.” The value of the offer has not been disclosed.