Former owner of the LA Dodgers and billionaire Frank McCourt has announced his intention to buy popular social media platform TikTok.
On Wednesday, McCourt told the New York Times he's working to put together a group of bidders to buy the app, following a bill passed by Congress that would force the Chinese company ByteDance to sell or shut down TikTok.
McCourt has his eyes on the social media phenomenon and said he wants to rethink how TikTok, and the internet overall, use data and consider privacy.
He continues to seek the advice of several academics and those alike who study the impact of technology, as he has long been interested in the intersection of technology and society.
When McCourt Launched his Project Liberty initative in 2021, McCourt said, "this seemed like a great opportunity to actually create an alternative to the current internet, which has been colonized by large platforms, including Facebook and TikTok.'
He added that proposed deal could help users "control their identity, own, and control their data."
As the Chinese government has the power to prevent the sale of TikTok's valuable algorithm and the operations between TikTok's US business and those of its parent company, McCourt has stated that it's too soon to discuss a potential valuation but said that he's interested in TikTok without its video recommendation technology.
While McCourt's bid is still in its preliminary stages, he has recruited financial advisers at the investment bank Guggenheim Securities and legal advisers at the law firm Kirkland & Ellis.
"We doubt very much that China would sell TikTok with the algorithm," he said.
"We're the one bidder that doesn't want the algorithm because we're talking about a different architecture, a different way of thinking about the internet and how it operates."
