Billionaires race to buy TikTok after Chinese owners ordered to sell app with Steve Mnuchin in the lead

A handful of American finance and tech tycoons are gearing up for multi-billion bids to buy TikTok after President Joe Biden signed an act which will force its Chinese owners to sell the app.The Wall Street and Silicon Valley figures are led by Steven Mnuchin, the former treasury secretary who has openly said he wants to buy the addictive app.The suitors also include former Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick, who has been reported to have spoken to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman about a possible proposal.And there is speculation that outspoken Pershing Square hedge fund chief Bill Ackman could mount a bid.Even “Shark Tank” multi-millionaire Kevin O’Leary has said he would “like to buy” TikTok.But all of them face formidable obstacles in prying TikTok from its Chinese parent company ByteDance’s hands and into American ownership.ByteDance has a year to divest TikTok or have the app banned entirely.But China’s Commerce Ministry said last year it would have to approve the divestiture of TikTok from parent company ByteDance — and that it’s strongly opposed to any sale.And as a result, buyers appear unlikely to get access to the ultra-addictive algorithm — the technology that hooks users for hours on the app showing them a stream of videos they want to see.

That means a potential buyer would only get a brand name and a user base and have to rebuild the technology, and the team who creates it, from scratch.A buyer will also have to raise billions.While a valuation of TikTok is not public, some analysts have put it at north of $100 billion with the algorithm although it would be cheaper without.

ByteDance was valued at $220 billion last year, according to data from Pitchbook. Finally, any buyer has to pass scrutiny by regulators, including the Federal Trade Commission where Biden appointee Lina Khan has led a crackdown on what she sees as monopolistic practices by big tech companies.That rules out Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta and Tim Cook’s Apple, which could...