Bobby Kotickformer head of Activision Blizzard is reportedly considering buying tiktokBecause the app may be banned in the United States. The Wall Street Journal reports that Kotick has spoken ByteDanceThe company that owns TikTok is talking about buying this app, which could be worth hundreds of billions of dollars.
This comes as US lawmakers are introducing a new bill that would force ByteDance to sell TikTok within six months or block it from being available in US app stores. President Joe Biden has said that he will approve the bill if it is passed in Congress.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Kotick, head of OpenAI, Sam Altmandiscussed teaming up to buy TikTok at a dinner last week.
Kotick’s interest in TikTok comes after the demise of his 30-year-dominant Activision Blizzard, which was acquired by Microsoft last year. The company faced a lawsuit saying it allowed sexual harassment and discrimination under Kotick’s leadership. The Wall Street Journal also said that Kotick knew about the bad behavior and did not tell everything to the board. Kotick was accused of harassment, but Activision Blizzard said the report was “misleading”.
Lawmakers are concerned about data privacy and TikTok’s ties to China. US President Biden, whose administration has already banned the app 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 and said the ban would help TikTok’s rivals like Facebook and YouTube.
As the bill against TikTok is gaining support, the app has asked its US users to speak out for it, and has sent messages to users asking them to call their representatives. The bill, which passed a committee last week, is expected to be approved when the House votes on it on Wednesday. If it passes, it will go to the Senate, and then the bill will be signed by the US President. Former Activision boss reportedly wants to buy TikTok