U.S. billionaire Frank McCourt is working on a major plan to bid for TikTok, the popular video app owned by Chinese tech company ByteDance. McCourt, who once owned the Los Angeles Dodgers, said he has gathered $20 billion in funding from investors to buy TikTok.
This comes as TikTok faces legal challenges and awaits a Supreme Court decision on whether it will be forced to sell its U.S. operations.
A New Vision for TikTok
McCourt wants to change TikTok’s business model. He plans to give users more control over the ads they see and the type of content they want.
His idea is to reduce TikTok’s reliance on ads by earning money through ecommerce and licensing data for artificial intelligence training. However, McCourt says this will only happen if users agree to share their data.
Challenges Ahead
There are several challenges to McCourt’s plan. TikTok has said it cannot be separated from ByteDance because of its content recommendation algorithm. The Chinese government has also placed restrictions on the export of this algorithm, making it difficult for McCourt to take control of it.
A Bid for TikTok and a New CEO
McCourt believes that the U.S. Supreme Court will uphold a law that could force ByteDance to sell TikTok. If that happens, he thinks ByteDance may be open to negotiations.
McCourt and his team have already spoken with members of President-elect Donald Trump’s administration about the bid. They are also looking for a new CEO for TikTok, with former COO V. Pappas among the potential candidates.
A New Technology for TikTok
McCourt also plans to move TikTok’s technology to an open-source system developed by his organization, Project Liberty. This would give users more control over their data and allow them to move it easily across the internet.