Kevin O’Leary said he would ‘love to do a Tik Tok deal’
A photo illustration shows the TikTok logo displayed on a mobile phone screen.
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Canadian investor Kevin O’Leary is still interested in a TikTok deal, but it’s not possible under current law, he told CNBC as President Donald Trump extended a deadline to ban the social media platform.
As a wave of executive orders since his inauguration on Monday, Trump 75 days late violation of the law That effectively bans TikTok and allows the administration “an opportunity to determine the appropriate course of action.”
Trump made the move in A Social media post On Sunday, it also floated a deal that would keep the platform active in the U.S. in partnership with 50% U.S. ownership.
“That 50/50 deal, I’d love to work with Trump, and other governors as well…but some of the problems with these proposals are inconsistent with the Supreme Court decision,” the investor said. He is best known for his role in ABC’s “Shark Tank.”
O’Leary announced along with “Tik Tok Public Auction,“An effort led by Project Freedom founder Frank McCourt offered ByteDance $20 billion in cash to buy TikTok. Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom.”
In an interview with CNBC, he said that while the proposed deal does not include ByteDance’s TikTok algorithm, which has been a key point of scrutiny from US lawmakers, his team has an alternative algorithm.
ByteDance did not announce any deal before Sunday’s deadline to leave TikTok after the Supreme Court confirmed this. Protecting Americans from applications controlled by foreign enemiesor PAFACA, Applies to TikTok.
McCourt confirmed to CNBC that the Project Freedom team “stands ready to work collaboratively with the Trump administration, ByteDance and a coalition of US partners to finalize this landmark agreement.”
He added, “Project Freedom has a proven technology stack and is working on TikiTok, which is in use and provides a clear path to address the national security concerns of Congress.”
Legal barriers
TikTok-related organizations had mixed reactions to Trump’s executive order. Service providers such as Oracle and Akamai have voluntarily put TikTok online, while Apple and Google have yet to put ByteDance-owned apps back on their stores.
According to O’Leary, while Trump’s ban extension could provide protection for the likes of Oracle and Akamai, it’s unclear whether the ByteDance hack deadline will be extended.
What we want is not a 75-day extension; What we need to do is go back and ask Congress to open up the mandate and allow for these new options; Because they are not prepared for them now,” he said.
He added, “I want to make a deal if the law dictates it, but I don’t have the luxury of going against the orders of Congress.”
Legal experts who spoke to CNBC agreed that the legal status of TikTok and Trump’s executive order is uncertain, and that any efforts to reach a deal with TikTok could face challenges.
Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond, said: “The order does not appear to comply with the law. Congress carefully included certain dates and procedures in the law, which SCOTUS found constitutional.”
“Therefore, the federal court found that the order violated the law and was invalid,” he said, but such an action could take a long time if the government appeals to SCOTUS.
Sarah Kreps, director of the Tech Policy Institute at Cornell University, agreed that the executive order was inconsistent with the Supreme Court’s decision, saying it did not address any improvement in qualified divestitures.
Considering that TikTok’s violators could face billions in fines, it’s not entirely wise for parties to accept Trump’s endorsement of the law and the SCOTUS ruling, Kreps said.
“They are really gambling with the law and putting a lot of faith in the executive,” she added.
Will China soften its position?
O’Leary told CNBC TikTok. In March of last year, it could bring in $20-30 billion on the market, a huge discount, as any sale would likely not include the platform’s algorithms.
Instead, the price in the deal was a strong local TikTok brand and access to its 100 million-plus users, he said.
Beijing was seen as a major obstacle to ByteDance’s move even as Tik Tok’s sales boomed.
However, China has recently announced that it is open to a deal in which US companies can acquire ownership of the platform.
Asked about President Donald Trump’s proposal on Monday, a Beijing spokesman told reporters: “We believe that actions such as doing business and buying should be decided by companies individually according to market principles.”
According to O’Leary, any sale of Byte Dance is still expected to be negotiated between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
“I have the right to sell or shut down TikTok, and we will make that decision and we have to get approval from China,” Trump told reporters after his inauguration.
The president is reported to have suggested that he could do so when signing the executive order Put tariffs on China Although Beijing failed to approve the US deal with TikTok. On Monday, Tesla CEO Elon Musk or Oracle Chairman Larry Ellison said they would consider buying TikTok.
Meanwhile, O’Leary told CNBC that he is still working on a TikTok deal with US lawmakers in Washington.
