So far, ByteDance has shown zero willingness to spin off TikTok in the US. The Chinese parent company seems to be banking on the Supreme Court or President-elect Donald Trump rescuing the app before it’s banned next month.
Frank McCourt, the real estate billionaire and former owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers, has been very public about his desire to buy TikTok. He has ramped up his drumbeat since ByteDance recently lost its legal fight on appeal. This week, he pitched more investors on his Project Liberty plan to buy the app’s US operations.
When I spoke with McCourt over Zoom in between those investor meetings, he told me he currently has roughly $20 billion behind him for a bid. He has asked Kevin Mayer, who was briefly TikTok’s CEO the last time it was almost banned from the US, to be involved, though Mayer hasn’t signed on. McCourt told me his team has talked to “most” of ByteDance’s biggest American investors and that they’re “very interested” in his plan.
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