Shark Tank star Kevin O’Leary has revealed he is willing to pay $20 billion to save TikTok.
Speaking via phone on Fox News with Bill Hemmer, O’Leary spoke of potentially buying the video steaming app before it goes dark on Sunday.
When asked about a figure for the app, which is set to be banned unless it is sold, he said: ‘Right now, $20 billion is on the table, cash, cash. $20 billion’, when asked if that would do it he said: ‘Well, I don’t know.’
O’Leary said that any company that moves in to buy TikTok would be subject to fines totaling over a billion dollars a day.
He added: ‘This thing goes dark at midnight because who’s going to take on a billion seven risk at midnight?
‘Who’s going to do that? What counsel would advise? This is the most interesting, complicated, crazy situation I’ve ever been involved in. I’m really excited about it.’
His comments came after The Supreme Court allowed the ban to go into effect in the United States.
The court handed down its decision after TikTok argued a law banning the app would violate their users’ First Amendment rights.
Last year, Congress passed a law banning TikTok unless its Chinese parent company ByteDance sells its stakes by January 19, 2025.
U.S. officials raised concerns that the wildly popular app is a national security concern with the collection of Americans’ data. But as the clock ticked down on the deadline, no deal has materialized.
TikTok, along with some users and creators sued in an effort to block the ban. But their efforts were rejected by lower courts, leaving them with no choice but to appeal to the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case on January 10, where it signaled it would not interfere with the ban going into effect on Sunday
In that decision on Friday, the country’s highest court noted that the provisions of the law in question were content neutral, targeting a foreign adversary’s control of a platform rather than targeting particular speech.
Some 170 million Americans use the video app, and some warned that banning the Chinese-owned app would disrupt the business and livelihoods of millions of Americans.
The path forward now depends on how the incoming Trump administration responds as the CEO of TikTok Shou Zi will be seated in a place of honor with other tech leaders at President-elect Trump’s inauguration on Monday.
Moments after the decision, President-elect Trump told CNN the fate of TikTok ‘ultimately goes up to me, so you’re going to see what I’m going to do.’
Despite the ban set to go into effect on Sunday, President Biden signaled he would not enforce it, leaving it to Trump who takes office Monday.
During his first term in office, Trump raised concern that TikTok was a national security threat, but he has since done a 180 and changed his tune.
Last month after winning the election, Trump met with TikTok’s CEO at his Mar-a-Lago estate and signaled he wanted to stop the ban.
‘I have a little bit of a warm spot in my heart I’ll be honest,’ Trump told reporters of the video streaming app.
He credits the app for helping him make gains with young people in the 2024 election.
It’s not exactly clear what the app will look like when users go to use it after it’s banned on Sunday.
Influencers on the app meanwhile have been sharing videos of them crying over the move.
In a video uploaded minutes after the Supreme Court‘s decision was revealed, TikTok influencer Madilynn Cameron slated the loss of the app to her 1.1 million followers.
‘Well, the Supreme Court kept the ban,’ she said. ‘This is not how I saw today going, I had a little bit of faith in our broken government system.
‘Our government has failed us… I’m so frustrated I can’t even speak.’
Hours before the decision was announced, makeup influencer Kylie Park shared a clip of herself in floods of tears at the prospect of losing the platform, and berated followers telling her to get a ‘real job.’
‘It just truly hit me tonight that TikTok could be gone,’ she said through tears.
‘I know some of you guys can’t relate and don’t understand, you think like ‘You guys have gotta get a 9-5 job’ – let me tell you right now, social media, TikTok, content creation is a real full-time job.’
Park, who has almost a million followers, said her fears over losing the platform ‘aren’t about the money’, and said she was upset at losing her ‘safe space.’
‘This is my safe space, it truly is, I come to TikTok anytime I’m having anxiety, anytime I need a break from anything,’ she said.
Cruise ship singer Emily Senn shared a weeping video to her 350,000 followers saying she would ‘never forgive’ the US government for allowing TikTok to be banned.
‘I’m never going to trust you ever again, because just like that you took away millions of people’s income and livelihoods,’ she said.
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