- Billionaire Frank McCourt joins the race to acquire TikTok’s US business.
- McCourt assembles a team of experts to navigate the TikTok takeover.
- The acquisition aims to create an open-source platform.
Assembling the avengers of TikTok acquisition
Real estate tycoon Frank McCourt is ready to bust a move and join the race to acquire TikTok’s US business.
The billionaire announced on Wednesday that he’s gathering a group of superheroes, including investment bank Guggenheim Securities, law firm Kirkland & Ellis, technology wizards, academics, and concerned parents, to help him navigate the TikTok takeover.
This move comes after US lawmakers decided to give Chinese-owned TikTok the boot from US app stores unless it finds a new home within a year.
Dreaming of a new internet frontier
McCourt sees the TikTok acquisition as a golden ticket to create an alternative internet. The potential purchase would be made through Project Liberty, McCourt’s internet advocacy group founded in 2021, which is on a mission to protect data privacy and tackle other digital dilemmas.
The billionaire wants to wave his magic wand and transform TikTok’s business model into an open-source platform that gives users and creators the keys to their data kingdom.
McCourt isn’t the only one vying for TikTok’s affection. Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin have also been caught eyeing the popular social media app. However, Big Tech companies may face antitrust roadblocks if they try to cut in on the TikTok dance.
The platform’s price tag is a mystery, with valuations ranging from $100 billion for the US business to being a mere drop in ByteDance’s revenue ocean.
