Kevin O'Leary wants to buy TikTok, spends weekend at Mar-a-Lago trying to convince President-elect Donald Trump he's the right person to run the controversial short video app I tried.
According to multiple reports, O'Leary, also known as Mr. Wonderful from the “Shark Tank” series, was at the Donald Palm Beach Resort to discuss President Trump's bid to buy parts of the Western Hemisphere, including his native Canada. It is said that he was hanging from the
However, On the Money has learned that “The 51st State” wasn't on the agenda, TikTok was. O'Leary, a serial entrepreneur, wants to add the app to his wealth.
Even the future of apps operating in the U.S. is at stake, and this is not a simple hike.
TikTok is particularly popular among young people, but if ByteDance, a Chinese company rivaling the Chinese Communist Party, doesn't sell the app in the United States by Sunday, a bipartisan ban will be put in place.
The concern is that the Chinese Communist Party is using the app for espionage purposes.
One of the few things Republicans have agreed to with President Joe Biden is to ban TikTok and make it unavailable for download from U.S. app stores, even as his precarious term in office nears an end. The goal was to eliminate the threat.
The Chinese don't want to sell the crucial algorithm that allows people to post crazy dance videos and have vowed to shut it down.
But Mr. O'Leary has teamed up with billionaire Frank McCourt to develop his own app and raise enough money (for example, 20 billion he told On the Money.
This is where Trump comes into play. Trump also wanted to ban TikTok during his first term, but has now changed his mind, believing the app could be used to win over voters, especially among young people.
He could use his influence with Chinese President Xi Jinping to strike a deal to take it out of China's hands at a price that satisfies everyone.
On Wednesday, reports surfaced that President Trump is considering issuing an executive order to delay the ban by several months once he enters the White House on Monday.
O'Leary told On the Money that Trump simply wants to keep business in American hands (perhaps his Canadian citizenship is close enough).
But he said Trump made no specific promises to him.
