Roblox CEO Eyes TikTok Deal with YouTube Rival

MrBeast, the popular YouTuber, is reportedly part of a consortium attempting a $20 billion+ bid to acquire TikTok. This group, including Jesse Tinsley (Employer.com founder), David Baszucki (Roblox co-founder and CEO), and Nathan McCauley (Anchorage Digital head), estimates the purchase price at $25 billion.

Bloomberg reported on this ambitious endeavor, though ByteDance, TikTok's parent company, has publicly stated its U.S. operations are not for sale. The Tinsley-led group acknowledges a lack of direct response from ByteDance.

MrBeast's representatives clarified that he's engaged in discussions with multiple parties, aiming to join the leading bidder. His January 22nd tweet, "The leading groups who are all credible bidding on Tik Tok have reached out for us to help them, I’m excited to partner/make this a reality. Big things cooking," suggests a flexible approach, potentially shifting alliances depending on the unfolding situation.

Earlier this week, former President Trump mentioned Microsoft's purported negotiations to acquire TikTok, expressing hope for a bidding war. Microsoft hasn't confirmed this.

TikTok experienced a brief outage on January 19th, affecting its 170 million U.S. users, preceding a deadline requiring ByteDance to sell or face a ban due to national security concerns. This shutdown followed the Supreme Court's rejection of TikTok's First Amendment challenge. The court acknowledged common data practices but cited TikTok's scale and vulnerability to foreign influence, along with its extensive data collection, as justifying special measures to address national security concerns.

Service resumed after assurances from former President Trump that penalties would be avoided. TikTok stated this was a victory for the First Amendment and against arbitrary censorship, pledging to collaborate with the former President on a long-term solution to maintain its U.S. presence.

Following his departure from office, former President Trump signed an executive order delaying enforcement of the law by 75 days. He engaged in discussions with various entities regarding a potential TikTok buyout, even suggesting Elon Musk as a possible buyer.