Former Activision CEO Bobby Kotick Considering Buying TikTok

With the fate of TikTok in the United States up in the air, former Activision CEO Bobby Kotick is reportedly considering buying the social network, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Kotick floated the idea at a dinner at an Allen & Co. conference earlier this week with a group of potential partners, including OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, the Journal says.

Kotick left Activision in late December after more than 30 years following the approval of the Microsoft merger and a tumultuous period that included a damaging discrimination lawsuit. And while he got a hefty golden parachute, it's probably not enough to buy TikTok, so he'll need partners with deep pockets.

Legislation is headed toward a vote in the House that would require TikTok to be sold or banned in the United States. The bill, dubbed the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, would ban ByteDance-owned sites and apps and would also give the president the ability to ban other apps in the future if the apps pose a “national security risk.”

Lawmakers are concerned that ByteDance might share data about its users with the Chinese government or use the platform to influence Americans’ political opinions.

The bill passed the House Energy and Commerce Committee this week unanimously, 50-0. While discussion of banning the app has circulated for years, the bill surprised ByteDance. The bill heads to the full House for a vote Wednesday, where if passed it will move on to the Senate.

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If passed, ByteDance would be required to divest itself of TikTok or have the platform banned from web-hosting services and app stores in the United States within five months.

The first talk of banning the app came from then-President Trump; however, he has since reversed his opinion, saying this week that a ban of the app would help Meta, which he called “an enemy of the people.” President Biden has said he will sign the bill into law if it passes both the House and Senate.