TikTok has found itself in the middle of a political maelstrom over the last few years. To be generous, let’s say the app and its China-based parent company, ByteDance, have a complicated relationship with the U.S. government.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order in 2020 banning American business transactions with ByteDance. A judge blocked that. Then, four years later, the House voted in favor of a bill that would force either a ban or a sale. The Senate also approved it. Then-President Joe Biden signed it. And TikTok sued.
As such, “messy” might be the more appropriate word. And the markets are abuzz with TikTok’s next potential owner. So let’s see who’s on deck.
Larry Ellison
Larry Ellison, who, as a New Yorker born and raised, I must point out is from the Bronx (go Yankees), is the current top contender in the market. He’s one of the founders of Oracle and is worth about $190 billion.
Oracle
How convenient!
Oracle, based in Austin, Texas, is one of the companies the aforementioned Larry Ellison founded. It’s worth around $430 billion.
Frank McCourt
Nope, not the Irish-American writer.
Frank McCourt is a billionaire real estate pro and philanthropist worth about $1.4 billion.
Microsoft
Microsoft is synonymous with home computing (sorry, Apple, but even you needed to get on the bandwagon when it came to Word). The company is valued at almost $3 trillion, so it would probably be pocket change for them — albeit less likely, according to the markets.
Alexis Ohanian
Alexis Ohanian was a co-founder of the world’s most infuriating site: Reddit. He’s probably best known as the husband of Serena Williams. Oh, he’s also worth $150 million. So that helps.
Bobby Kotick
Bobby Kotick (yay another New Yorker) was the head of Activision Blizzard until 2023 when he stepped down under (tugs at collar) some questionable financial decisions. Still, he’s worth nearly a billion dollars.
And perhaps fittingly, Activision is now a subsidiary of Microsoft.
Elon Musk
Hey, who knows? The markets have Musk in the single digits, but the man does enjoy his social media presence. And his projected worth is still north of $328 billion.
MrBeast
MrBeast — otherwise known as James Stephen “Jimmy” Donaldson — is a YouTuber (arguably the most popular) and businessman. He’s worth $550 million.
Rumble
Rumble is a video hosting site with headquarters in both Canada and Florida. It currently seems unlikely that it will make a go at TikTok, but, hey, things can change. It is valued at $2.44 billion, after all.
Amazon
OK, we’re gonna close on a biggie and one of the least likely.
Amazon is worth more than $2 trillion dollars. And it is absolutely ubiquitous. Jeff Bezos, the founder, is worth more than $200 billion alone.
