Kevin O’Leary, a renowned Canadian businessman and investor, has made an offer of $20 billion in cash to purchase TikTok, a popular social media platform.
Recall that a bipartisan bill, signed into law by President Biden, deemed TikTok a threat to national security due to its ties to Chinese parent company ByteDance.
As a result, ByteDance is required to divest from the platform or sell it to allow TikTok to remain available in American app stores.
The deadline for this transaction is Sunday, and the Supreme Court has upheld the ban on TikTok in a recent ruling.
During an appearance on Fox News’s “America’s Newsroom,” O’Leary highlighted the significant fines that service providers could face if they continue to allow access to TikTok after the deadline.
He stated, “As of midnight on the 19, any service provider … that could be an Apple, that could be an Oracle, it could be a video compression technology company that’s being paid as a consulting service, any of them that keep this thing alive is subject to $5,000 a day fine times 170 million. That’s over a billion dollars a day.”
O’Leary also expressed uncertainty about whether an executive order could override the law, citing a 1937 case that was used successfully, but acknowledging that the outcome is uncertain.
He then revealed his offer to buy TikTok, saying, “Right now, $20 billion is on the table, cash, cash, $20 billion.” O’Leary is now waiting to see if his offer will be accepted.
O’Leary’s net worth is estimated to be around $400 million, and his investment portfolio includes various businesses and assets.
TikTok has over 170 million users in the U.S. alone.
