MrBeast Officially Makes Bid for TikTok

YouTube and TikTok star. MrBeast is attempting to buy TikTok with a group of investors, as the social media business faces a 75-day deadline to find a non-Chinese owner or risk being permanently banned.

"Okay fine, I'll buy TikTok so it doesn't get banned," MrBeast, actual name Jimmy Donaldson, wrote on X on January 13th. Donaldson, the single most popular YouTuber, and the third most popular TikToker, was serious, according to his lawyer, who told CNN on Tuesday.

The bid from Donaldson and a group of investors is only the latest twist in TikTok's wild few days.

It went dark on Saturday night as a nationwide ban loomed, but came back online about 12 hours after President Donald Trump stated he would sign an executive order delaying the ban by 75 days.

Donaldson confirmed his desire to buy TikTok in a video broadcast two days after his X post.

"I just got out of a meeting with a bunch of billionaires., TikTok we mean business," Mr. Beast stated in the video. "This is my lawyer right here, we have an offer ready for you, we want to buy the platform."

The bid follows the Supreme Court's decision to uphold the government law prohibiting TikTok from being sold to a non-China-based corporation, according to a spokesperson for the Paul Hastings law firm, which represents the consortium in the bid.

The investor group, chaired by Jesse Tinsley, the founder and CEO of Employer.com, is made up of "institutional investors and high-net-worth individuals," who do not want the app to disappear.

According to the investment group, the idea would not interrupt TikTok's operations while ensuring continuity for its 170 million American consumers.

"Our offer represents a win-win solution that preserves this vital platform, while addressing legitimate national security concerns," tweeted Tinsley in a statement. The bid amount was not disclosed in the statement.

CNN has contacted TikTok for comment.

Time is Running Out: Act Now

Talks of a prospective TikTok sale to a US-based corporation began in 2020 when President Trump issued an executive order aiming to prohibit TikTok during his first term in office.

Last Friday, the Supreme Court unanimously upheld a federal rule banning TikTok unless its parent firm, ByteDance, sells the site to a non-Chinese corporation.

TikTok went dark on Saturday, with the app displaying the message: "Sorry, TikTok isn't available right now. A law prohibiting TikTok has been passed in the United States. Unfortunately, this means you won't be able to utilize TikTok right now."

The app went back online after Trump claimed that he would sign an executive order following his inauguration on Monday to "extend the period before the law's prohibitions take effect."

While the executive decree, signed Monday evening, pauses the TikTok ban for 75 days, it does not offer a lasting remedy.

ByteDance will either sell to a new buyer—despite declaring that it has no intention of doing so—or the Trump administration will need to establish a new law to overturn the prior one, a highly unlikely scenario given the overwhelming bipartisan support the present legislation got in Congress.

TikTok Bids Heat Up

The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg reported that Chinese officials were considering selling at least a share of the app to tech entrepreneur Elon Musk. CNN has not independently corroborated the negotiations, and neither ByteDance nor Elon Musk responded to CNN's requests for comment.

A group named "The People's Bid for TikTok," which includes Shark Tank's Kevin O'Leary and billionaire Frank McCourt, has also proposed to purchase TikTok.

Guggenheim Securities and world-renowned web inventor Tim Berners-Lee have invested in the People's Bid.

According to Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives, TikTok's US assets, excluding the algorithm, are projected to be worth $40 billion to $50 billion.

However, because the algorithm may account for a significant portion of TikTok's value, putting a definite price figure on the company is tricky.

McCourt's firm has not said how much it proposed, but the billionaire previously stated that he valued the assets at roughly $20 billion.

"We will refrain from publicly sharing the financial specifics of our offer until ByteDance is in a position to review our proposal," O'Leary and McCourt's firm stated last week.