Frank McCourt said his Project Liberty consortium, which has bid to buy TikTok, would be comfortable sharing ownership of the app so long as it’s hosted on tech developed by his nonprofit.
“I’m okay with whatever is legal … and the U.S. government is OK with,” McCourt told CNBC in an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
McCourt’s remarks come after President Donald Trump last week said that he would like the U.S. to have a “50% ownership position in a joint venture” in TikTok.
The Supreme Court last week upheld the law requiring ByteDance to divest its ownership of TikTok or face an effective ban. Since TikTok was not sold by the law’s Sunday deadline, the app was shut down for American users and also removed from Apple and Google’s app stores. But TikTok began restoring some services Sunday after Trump said he would sign an executive order to delay a federal ban of the app, which he did on Monday.
The executive order allows TikTok to keep operating for another 75 days.
With all the twists and turns, McCourt said he’s open to any commercial agreement, including a 50% stake rather than full ownership.
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