AI company Perplexity bids to merge with TikTok to avoid ban
The chairman of O’Leary Ventures has the latest on the Tik Tok auction on ‘The Claman Countdown’.
Artificial intelligence (AI) company Perplexity AI has applied to merge with TikTok US, so the video-sharing platform can avoid being banned in the country, according to a report.
The bid for the platform’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, will bring together Perplexity AI, TikTok US and new capital partners, and will allow the majority of ByteDance investors to retain their equity stake, CNBC cited a source familiar with the matter as saying.
Congress passed a Ban on TikTok Chinese-owned ByteDance would have been operating since last year unless it sold the company.
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TikTok has been banned in the United States, effective Sunday. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis/AP Newsroom)
The White House has said President Biden will not lift the ban, and President-elect Trump is likely to call for a 90-day reprieve from the legally mandated ban.
Still, ByteDance said on Saturday that it plans to “go dark” on Sunday unless the Biden administration provides “committed” assurances that the ban will not be implemented.
Confusion is an AI search engine startup that launched last year. It is worth around $9 billion, CNBC reported.
Confusion is an AI search engine startup launched last year. It is worth around $9 billion, CNBC reported. (Jaque Silva/NurPhoto via Getty Images/Getty Images)
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On Friday, the US The Supreme Court approved Bilateral law citing national security risks due to relations with China.
While ByteDance has indicated it will not sell Tik Tok, “Shark Tank” investor Kevin O’Leary told Fox News on Friday that he has made a $20 billion cash offer for it.
President-elect Trump said he would seek a 90-day relief from the ban authorized by the text of the law. (Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty Images/Getty Images)
“There’s a reason Congress put this order before the Supreme Court. There’s a reason they made this decision. It’s not worth the risk,” he said. “And, therefore, the obvious solution is to sell it to the American syndicate as per the order.”
Fox Business reached out to ByteDance and Perplexity AI for comment.