Kevin O’Leary Says He’s ‘Wanted To Do A Deal With TikTok’

Canadian investor Kevin O’Leary is still interested in a TikTok deal, but it’s not possible under current law, he told CNBC as President Donald Trump extended a ban on the social media platform.

As part of a wave of executive orders since his inauguration on Monday, Trump delayed the introduction of the law for 75 days this would lead to an actual ban on TikTok, giving its administration “an opportunity to determine an appropriate course of action.”

Trump promised this step in a post on social media on Sunday, also striking a deal that will see the platform remain active in the US as part of a joint venture with 50% American ownership.

“I would like to work with Trump on this 50/50 deal, as would any other potential buyer … But the problem with some of these ideas is that they are inconsistent with the Supreme Court ruling,” said the investor, widely known for his role in ABC series “Shark Tank”.

O’Leary announced that he along with “The People’s Bet on TikTok,” effort led by Project Liberty founder Frank McCourt offered ByteDance $20 billion in cash to buy TikTok while appearing on Fox News’ US Newsroom.

Speaking to CNBC, he said the proposed deal does not include ByteDance’s TikTok algorithm, which was a key point of scrutiny from US lawmakers, adding that his group had an alternative algorithm.

ByteDance did not announce the deals until Sunday’s deadline for TikTok to withdraw from the Supreme Court is supported in Act to protect Americans from programs controlled by a foreign adversaryor PAFACA, which refers to TikTok.

McCourt confirmed to CNBC that the Project Liberty team remains “ready to work with the Trump administration, ByteDance and a consortium of US partners to complete this important transaction.”

“Project Liberty has a proven technology stack already in use and offers a clear path to address Congress’s national security concerns while keeping TikTok running,” he added.

Firms related to TikTok have had mixed reactions to Trump’s executive order. Service providers such as Oracle and Akamai are eager to support TikTok online, while Apple and Google have yet to restore the ByteDance-owned apps to their stores.

According to O’Leary, while Trump’s extension of the ban likely provided protection to companies such as Oracle and Akamai, it is unclear whether the deadline for ByteDance’s delisting will be extended.

“What we need is not a 75-day extension. What we need is to go back and ask Congress to open up the agenda and provide for these new options, because they are not provided for now,” he said.

“I’d like to make a deal if it’s allowed by law, but I don’t have the luxury of breaking the rules of Congress,” he added.

Legal experts who spoke to CNBC agreed that TikTok’s legal status and Trump’s executive order remain uncertain and that any attempt to strike a deal with TikTok could face challenges.

“It seems that the Order does not comply with the statute. “Congress carefully built into the law certain dates and procedures that SCOTUS found constitutional,” said Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond.

“So a federal court could find that the order violates the law and invalidate it,” he said, adding, however, that such action could take a long time if the government goes to SCOTUS.

Sarah Kreps, director of the Technology Policy Institute at Cornell University, agreed that the order was inconsistent with the Supreme Court’s decision, adding that it said nothing about progress toward qualified deprivation.

Given that violators of the TikTok law could face billions in fines, it’s not entirely wise for the parties to buy into Trump’s assurances about the law and the SCOTUS ruling, Kreps said.

“They are definitely playing with the law and have a lot of faith in the executive branch,” she added.

O’Leary told CNBC that TikTok could bring in $20-30 billion on the market last March, a huge discount given any sale is likely to rule out the platform’s algorithms.

Instead, the value of the potential deal was the opportunity to acquire TikTok’s strong domestic brand and its more than 100 million usershe said.

However, around the time the TikTok sale was discussed, Beijing was considered to be a serious barrier before the sale of BytdeDance.

On Monday, Beijing showed openness to a deal that would see US companies take ownership of the platform.

“When it comes to actions such as management and acquisition of enterprises, we believe that they should be decided by companies themselves according to market principles,” a Beijing official said Monday when asked about President Donald Trump’s proposal.

According to O’Leary, any potential sale of ByteDance would still be subject to negotiations between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

“With TikTok, I have the power to either sell it or shut it down, and we’ll make that decision, and we may have to get approval from China as well,” Trump told reporters after his inauguration.

The President, signing the decree, allegedly expressed the opinion that he could impose tariffs on China when Beijing did not approve the US deal with TikTok. On Tuesday, he said he would consider the possibility Tesla General director Elon Musk or the chairman of Oracle Larry Ellison Buy TikTok.

Meanwhile, O’Leary told CNBC that he is in Washington and still working on a possible TikTok deal with US lawmakers.