(Jan 22): MrBeast, the internet’s most-followed and highest-earning content creator, has joined a new bid to buy TikTok.
The YouTube star, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, is part of a group of American investors assembled by tech entrepreneur Jesse Tinsley that is vying to buy TikTok’s US business before a possible ban.
Tinsley, who is founder of Employer.com, has submitted an all-cash bid alongside Donaldson and other “institutional investors and high net worth individuals,” according to a spokesperson for the group, which is being represented by Paul Hastings. The firm declined to provide more details on the offer, including a full list of investors involved.
Brad Bondi, brother of Pam Bondi, who President Donald Trump has tapped to run the Justice Department, is part of the Paul Hastings team providing legal counsel to the investor group.
“As President Trump re-establishes America’s dominance, our group stands ready to partner with the US government to acquire TikTok and help secure and stabilise the platform for hundreds of millions of Americans to safely enjoy,” Tinsley said in a statement. TikTok and ByteDance didn’t respond to requests for comment. MrBeast, through his team, didn’t respond to a request for comment.
MrBeast, with more than 346 million subscribers on YouTube, adds another high-profile name to the mix of interested buyers for TikTok. Tinsley’s group is among several rallying to buy the popular video app after the Supreme Court upheld a law requiring TikTok’s China-based parent company, ByteDance Ltd, to spin off its US operations over national security concerns. According to the law, ByteDance had to sell TikTok before Jan 19, or face a nationwide ban.
While TikTok temporarily went offline over the weekend, Trump signed an executive order on Jan 20 — his first day in office — to extend the deadline for a sale by 75 days. While it’s not clear that Trump has the authority to extend the deadline, it may not ultimately matter. ByteDance has publicly refused to sell TikTok, though prospective buyers hope the Supreme Court’s ruling and the brief TikTok shutdown could push ByteDance to reconsider.
That prospect has potential bidders lining up. Billionaire Frank McCourt, former owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers, and Shark Tank investor Kevin O’Leary made a formal offer to buy TikTok earlier this month. O’Leary has already met with Trump at Mar-a-Lago to discuss the bid, and McCourt has made clear he’d be happy to buy TikTok without the service’s coveted content algorithm, which ByteDance and China’s government have said is not for sale.
Amazon.com Inc and Oracle Corp, both of which already do business with TikTok, have also been floated as possible suitors. After assurances from Trump that he wouldn’t enforce the law, Oracle notably helped restore TikTok’s app on Sunday after a roughly 14-hour US shutdown even though it could face fines for doing so. The Chinese government has also been evaluating Elon Musk as a potential purchaser, Bloomberg News reported.
It’s unclear whether ByteDance has responded to any of the bidders, or whether it’s even entertaining them.
Tinsley wrote in a post on X that he’d meet with Trump and his team to discuss the offer, and that he was awaiting a response from ByteDance’s board.
“Our goal is to ensure TikTok stays accessible, thriving, and aligned with the values that make America great,” he wrote. “We also welcome US government investment,” he added, and “are ready to structure the deal in whatever way President Trump and our government wish.” He said that his company, Employer.com, is part of the investors’ consortium.
Uploaded by Magessan Varatharaja