MrBeast, Roblox CEO Eye $20B TikTok Acquisition

Jimmy Donaldson, widely recognized as the YouTuber MrBeast, is part of an investment group that is reportedly attempting to purchase TikTok with a bid exceeding $20 billion. According to Bloomberg, Donaldson has joined forces with Jesse Tinsley, the founder of Employer.com, David Baszucki, the co-founder and CEO of Roblox, and Nathan McCauley, head of the crypto platform Anchorage Digital, to make this ambitious acquisition. The group estimates that it would take approximately $25 billion to secure the social media giant.

Despite these efforts, TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, has firmly stated that its U.S. business is not for sale. The group led by Tinsley has acknowledged that they have yet to receive a direct response from ByteDance. Meanwhile, representatives for Donaldson have indicated that he is in discussions with multiple parties and is open to aligning with the most promising bidder. On January 22, Donaldson tweeted, "The leading groups who are all credible bidding on TikTok have reached out for us to help them, I’m excited to partner/make this a reality. Big things cooking."

Earlier in the week, former U.S. President Donald Trump mentioned that Microsoft was in talks to acquire TikTok and expressed his desire to see a bidding war for the app. However, Microsoft has not yet confirmed these claims.

TikTok faced a significant disruption when it was taken offline for its 170 million U.S. users just before a law was set to take effect on January 19. This law required ByteDance to sell TikTok due to national security concerns or face a ban. The app went dark after the Supreme Court rejected an appeal following TikTok's First Amendment challenge. The justices noted that while data collection is common, "TikTok’s scale and susceptibility to foreign adversary control, together with the vast swaths of sensitive data the platform collects, justify differential treatment to address the Government’s national security concerns."

TikTok was able to resume service after receiving assurances from Trump that the company would not face penalties for restoring service. TikTok responded by saying, "It’s a strong stand for the First Amendment and against arbitrary censorship. We will work with President Trump on a long-term solution that keeps TikTok in the United States."

Following his inauguration on January 20, Trump signed an executive order to delay the enforcement of the law by 75 days. He is currently in discussions with various companies and individuals about a potential buyout of TikTok, and has expressed openness to Elon Musk, the owner of X/Twitter, taking control.