Real estate mogul Frank McCourt plans consortium bid for TikTok’s U.S. business

Real Estate Mogul Frank McCourt Plans to Build Consortium to Bid for TikTok’s U.S. Business

Frank McCourt, a real estate mogul with ambitions to reshape the web, announced his plans to build a consortium to bid for social media app TikTok’s U.S. business. McCourt, a former owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers and executive chairman of investment firm McCourt Global, is stepping into the ring of potential buyers for TikTok’s U.S. assets, which were valued at $35 billion to $40 billion by Bloomberg Intelligence analysts.

President Joe Biden’s decision to force TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance Ltd., to sell the U.S. app or face a ban has sparked interest from a variety of contenders. Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and former Google CEO Eric Schmidt have also expressed interest in the app.

While ByteDance is challenging the U.S. law in court and has stated that they have no intention of selling the asset, McCourt sees the potential acquisition as an opportunity to revolutionize the tech industry. Through his initiative, Project Liberty, McCourt aims to challenge Meta Platforms Inc. and other internet giants by giving U.S. users more control over their information.

Describing the bid as “the people’s bid,” McCourt is working with investment bank Guggenheim Securities, legal firm Kirkland & Ellis, and a team of academics and technologists to secure financing for the project. The bid is also supported by Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web.

TikTok has not yet commented on McCourt’s plans for the bid. Stay tuned for updates on this developing story.