Businessman Frank McCourt is open-minded to keeping TikTok’s existing investors, including founder Zhang Yiming, involved after a potential deal to buy the U.S. operations of the Chinese-owned short-form video app. McCourt’s consortium, Project Liberty, has made a formal offer to buy TikTok from its Chinese parent company ByteDance, valuing the app without its algorithm at around $20 billion. The bid is not dependent on the involvement of U.S. investment firms such as General Atlantic, Susquehanna, and Sequoia Capital, which own stakes in ByteDance.
However, McCourt stated that his firm is open to leaving existing investors, including Zhang Yiming, involved in the deal, pending approval from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States. This comes as ByteDance has faced pressure to divest its ownership of TikTok in the U.S. due to national security concerns.
McCourt’s consortium has also developed technology to address these concerns, which led to the passage of legislation calling for ByteDance to divest its ownership of TikTok by Sunday or face a ban in the U.S. Additionally, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming national security adviser has expressed support for keeping TikTok alive in the U.S. if a viable deal is reached.
