He has already presented the idea to potential partners - including OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.
The Wall Street Journal reports that former Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick is interested in buying TikTok, taking into account a new US bill that provides for the sale of the social network to a local owner or its complete ban in the country.
Supposedly, Kotick discussed this idea at a conference with potential partners, including OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, and the executive director of TikTok's Chinese owner ByteDance, Zhang Yiming.
If TikTok is sold, it will likely cost hundreds of billions of dollars.
Bobby Kotick led Activision for over 30 years and resigned last year. In a lawsuit filed in 2021, the company under his leadership was accused of aiding sexual harassment and gender discrimination. According to WSJ, Kotick knew about the attacks and complaints but did not disclose the full information to the board - he himself was also accused of harassment, as reported by The Verge.
After the information was made public, Activision Blizzard employees demanded Kotick's resignation, but he remained in office until Microsoft's acquisition in 2023.
The "Law on Protecting Americans from Programs Controlled by Foreign Malefactors," which Joe Biden plans to sign, stipulates that ByteDance must sell TikTok within 6 months, otherwise it will be banned from US app stores. Last week, the social network sent push notifications asking users to call their representatives. After the expected approval by the House of Representatives, the bill will be sent to the Senate.
Legislators' concerns are currently focused on TikTok's connection with China and the country's potential access to confidential data. At the same time, the social network's collaboration with OpenAI is likely to involve training AI models on user data, which is also not entirely safe.
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