TikTok has been under the threat of a ban in the US for years already. This is because the US government declared TikTok a security threat citing data stealing concerns.
Recently the situation got worse for the social media platform with lawmakers introducing the “Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act” last week. The act will be passed once it is signed by US President Joe Biden.
The proposed legislation, slated for a vote on Wednesday on the House floor, mandates that TikTok’s China-based parent company, ByteDance, must divest the app and hand over control to a US company within six months. Failure to comply would result in a ban from US app stores.
For that reason, ex-Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick is now interested in buying TikTok and wants to partner with OpenAI’s Sam Altman to acquire the business. As per a report from The Wall Street Journal, Kotick mentioned the idea of partnering to buy TikTok over a conference dinner. He also proposed the idea to ByteDance Executive Chair Zhang Yiming.
If TikTok does get sold over, it would go for hundreds of billions of dollars, reports The Wall Street Journal.
Kotick served as the leader of Activision for more than three decades, though his departure was marred by controversy. A lawsuit filed in 2021, which reached a settlement the following year, leveled accusations against the company for permitting a work environment rife with sexual harassment and gender discrimination while he was at the helm. This environment was characterized as a widespread “frat boy” culture.
On the other hand, Sam Altman has been the CEO of the most valuable AI startup OpenAI since 2019. He was abruptly fired from the company in November 2023, due to a “lack of consistently candid communication”, as per the company’s board. He was reinstated to his position as OpenAI CEO once again within just a few days after the entire company workforce threatened to resign to bring Altman back. This not only brought back Altman but also co-founder and president Greg Brockman among others.
