Mnuchin Says He’s Still Interested In Buying TikTok

Bloomberg News reports:

Steven Mnuchin, the former US Treasury Secretary, said he’s still interested in buying TikTok’s US operation from its Chinese owner, and believes the social media app’s critical video recommendation technology could be replicated.

“I’ve actually spoken to a lot of tech companies on working about rebuilding this,” Mnuchin said Tuesday in an interview with Bloomberg Television.

“I do believe the algorithms could be rebuilt. So my plan, if we were to purchase, it would be to rebuild the technology under US leadership, make sure that it’s all disconnected from ByteDance going forward, and that it is very robust and secure.”

Read the full article. ByteDance has given no indication that they are willing to sell TikTok. On Monday, the company filed a lawsuit seeking to block the recently passed law ordering them to divest within 12 months or be banned from US app stores. TikTok has an estimated worth of around $60 billion.

Steven Mnuchin said he’s still interested in buying TikTok’s operations in the US from its Chinese owner, and believes the app’s algorithm could be replicated https://t.co/GSzVHdUTwO

— Bloomberg (@business) May 7, 2024