Former Activision CEO Bobby Kotick is reportedly looking to purchase TikTok amid fears the social media platform may shut down in the US.
TikTok has been at the center of controversy for the United States government in the last few years. Particularly, members of the Senate believe China-based parent company ByteDance could spy on its users andshare information with the Chinese Government.
With fears that TikTok could shut down if new legislation passes Congress, with lawmakers pushing for the website’s sale, ex-Activision CEO Bobby Kotick is reportedly looking to purchase the platform.
Bobby Kotick eyes up TikTok purchase amid fears of shut down
Bobby Kotick, former CEO of Activision Blizzard, has approached ByteDance founder Zhang Yiming to express interest in purchasing the social media platform TikTok, according to reports from theWall Street Journal.
This comes amid fears that new legislation could force ByteDance to sell the platform or risk being shut down. However, purchasing TikTok won’t come cheap, with an estimated price tag in the hundreds of billions.
The former Activision executive reportedly pitched the idea to a table of people that included OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.
Fears that TikTok may shut down is certainly nothing new. Throughout Donald Trump’s presidency, there werenumerous attempts to ban theplatform in the United States. It never came to fruition, and in fact led to alawsuit against the US government.
However, several states have imposed a ban on TikTok from government devices, withMaryland state Governor Larry Hogan claimingthe app presented “an unacceptable level of cybersecurity risk to the state.”
Shay Robson was a Staff Writer on Dexerto’s UK team, specializing in shooter games like Valorant and Call of Duty, as well as sports games like EA SPORTS FC. He also covered Twitch and YouTube content. He also has bylines at Gamezo.
