Bobby Kotick, the former head of Activision Blizzard, is reportedly considering buying TikTok, as the app could be banned in the United States. The Wall Street Journal reports that Kotick has talked to ByteDance, the company that owns TikTok, about buying the app, which could cost hundreds of billions of dollars.
This comes as US lawmakers introduce a new bill that would make ByteDance sell TikTok within six months or stop it from being available in US app stores.President Joe Biden has said he would approve the bill if it passes in Congress.
The Wall Street Journal report adds that Kotick, the head of OpenAI, Sam Altman, discussed teaming up to buy TikTok at a dinner last week.
Kotick’s interest in TikTok follows a rough end to his 30 years leading Activision Blizzard, which Microsoft acquired last year. The company faced a lawsuit saying it allowed sexual harassment and discrimination under Kotick’s leadership. The Wall Street Journal also said Kotick knew about bad behaviour and didn’t tell the board everything. Kotick was accused of harassment, but Activision Blizzard said the report was “misleading.”
Lawmakers are worried about data privacy and TikTok’s ties to China. US President Biden, whose administration has banned the app already on state devices, has expressed his support for banning the app in the US. However, former President Donald Trump, who once wanted to ban TikTok, has changed his mind, saying a ban would help TikTok’s rivals, like Facebook and YouTube.
As the bill against TikTok gains support, the app has asked its American users to speak up for it, sending messages telling users to call their representatives. The bill, which passed a committee last week, is expected to be approved when the House votes on Wednesday. If it passes, it will then go to the Senate, and then the bill will be signed by the President of the US.Former Activision boss reportedly wants to buy TikTok