When Joe Biden signed a law that would force ByteDance to sell TikTok’s United States business, the president did not imagine a real estate developer might buy the social media platform.
Yet Frank McCourt is putting together a group to bid on TikTok, Bloomberg reported. The consortium building comes as the popular video app faces an aggressive timeline to find new ownership amid national security concerns; ByteDance appears prepared to fight against any requirement to sell off its assets, taking its battle to the courts.
“We see this potential acquisition as an incredible opportunity to catalyze an alternative to the current tech model that has colonized the internet,” the McCourt Global chair said in a statement. McCourt would migrate TikTok to an open-source protocol and give users more control of their information.
McCourt is working with investment bank Guggenheim Securities, legal firm Kirkland & Ellis and several academics and technologists. Tim Berners-Lee, creator of the World Wide Web, is supporting McCourt’s bid.
McCourt made his bones in Boston real estate, playing a part in projects such as the Union Wharf Condominium and the South Boston Seaport District. He purchased Major League Baseball’s Los Angeles Dodgers for $430 million in 2004, but was essentially forced to sell less than a decade later following one of the costliest divorces in the history of California.
Since 2021, McCourt has been spearheading his Project Liberty initiative, an attempt to overhaul the internet. The non-profit initiative launched with $100 million in funding. He’s given $500 million to the initiative thus far.
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McCourt hasn’t entirely abandoned his real estate roots.
Last year, McCourt planned more than 320 units across apartment complexes close to his former haunt of Dodger Stadium, Urbanize LA reported.
Other potential bidders jockeying for TikTok include former Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and former Google chief executive officer Eric Schmidt. TikTok’s U.S. assets are valued between $35 billion and $40 billion, according to Bloomberg Intelligence analysts.