Canadian millionaire Kevin O’Leary wants to buy TikTok with a 90% discount – Kommersant
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Canadian businessman Kevin O’Leary is forming a pool of investors for a potential purchase of the Chinese video service TikTok. This is what he’s talking about stated aired on CNBC. The initial offering could be $20–30 billion, although PitchBook last year valued TikTok at $220 billion in its latest funding round.
However, Mr. O’Leary, whose fortune is estimated at $400–500 million, notes that the purchase of TikTok will not include data on the algorithms of user preferences on this video service – namely, the algorithms that offer users more and more new videos have made TikTok so popular.
According to a Canadian businessman, the Chinese authorities, who, according to some experts, control TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, are unlikely to want to part with data on user algorithms. Therefore, a potential buyer will have to “recreate” these algorithms, but using American codes, and become a “guide” in turning “Chinese TikTok into American TikTok,” Mr. O’Leary believes.
Discussions about a possible ban on TikTok in the United States or its separation from the Chinese ByteDance have been going on for months amid claims American authorities to this service. In the US, many fear that the Chinese government may be using TikTok to collect Americans’ data and influence public opinion.
The first bans on American citizens using TikTok were introduced in 2020 by then-President Donald Trump. His administration tried to implement a federal ban, but that was thwarted by litigation brought by TikTok. After the election of President Joe Biden, a decree was issued banning the use of this application on the official devices of government employees. Last week, the US House of Representatives voted by a majority approved a bill according to which the Chinese company ByteDance must spin off its American business into a separate company within six months. Otherwise, TikTok may be banned in the United States.
The most popular social networks are in material “Kommersant”
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