Canadian businessman and, Investor Kevin O’Leary, has offered TikTok’s owners $20 billion in cash to buy the platform.
Recall a bipartisan bill, which President Biden signed, called TikTok a threat to national security and forced ByteDance, the platform’s Chinese parent company, to divest from the platform or sell it in order for TikTok to remain in American app stores. ByteDance’s deadline is Sunday.
The Supreme Court ruled Friday on TikTok’s challenge to the law, upholding the ban
During a Friday appearance on Fox News’s “America’s Newsroom,” O’Leary made note of the fines that could be in store for any provider that allows access after the deadline.
“As of midnight on the 19, any service provider … that could be an Apple, that could be an Oracle, it could be a video compression technology company that’s being paid as a consulting service, any of them that keep this thing alive is subject to $5,000 a day fine times 170 million,” O’Leary told anchor Bill Hemmer in the interview. “That’s over a billion dollars a day.”
“We don’t know if an executive order can override a law from Congress. There’s a case in 1937 that was used successfully, but you don’t know.”
O’Leary went on to say he an offer of $20 billion to buy the social media platform, which boasts 170 million U.S. users.
“Right now, $20 billion is on the table, cash, cash, $20 billion,” O’Leary said touting his bid at the conclusion of the call-in.
He said he’s waiting to see if the offer is enough.