Billionaire Frank McCourt putting together a consortium to buy TikTok
In this Oct. 23, 2016 file photo, U.S. businessman Frank McCourt looks on during the French League One soccer match between PSG and Marseille at the Parc des Princes stadium in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Francois Mori, File)
Billionaire businessman and real estate mogul Frank McCourt said he’s putting together a consortium to purchase TikTok’s U.S. business, adding to the number of investors hoping to benefit from a new federal law that requires TikTok’s China-based parent company to sell the popular platform or face a ban.
The announcement, posted late Tuesday on McCourt’s Project Liberty initiative, said the former owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers was organizing the bid in consultation with the investment bank Guggenheim Securities and “with the goal of placing people and data empowerment at the center of the platform’s design and purpose.”
READ: US tells ByteDance to sell TikTok or be banned – report
If a sale occurs, McCourt said he would plan to restructure TikTok and give more agency to people “over their digital identities and data” by migrating the platform to an open-source protocol that allows for more transparency.
Other investors, including former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, have expressed a desire to purchase TikTok.
Article continues after this advertisementHowever, parent company ByteDance has already said it does not plan to sell the platform. The Chinese government is also unlikely to approve a sale – especially not one that includes the recommendation engine that powers the videos that populate users’ feeds.
Article continues after this advertisementREAD: ByteDance says ‘no plans’ to sell TikTok after US ban law
Last week, ByteDance and TikTok filed a lawsuit against the U.S. government to block the law from going into effect. On Tuesday, eight TikTok creators filed their own challenge, arguing the law violates their First Amendment rights to free speech.
McCourt is worth $1.4 billion, according to Forbes. He sold the Dodgers for $2 billion in 2012 to Guggenheim Baseball Management. In 2016, he bought the French soccer club Marseille.
