Jimmy Donaldson — better known online as MrBeast — isn’t in the TikTok bidding race just yet, according to a representative for the YouTube star.
Donaldson stirred interest in a Jan. 13 post on X saying he’d “buy TikTok so it doesn’t get banned.” The next day, Donaldson added, “Unironically I’ve had so many billionaires reach out to me since I tweeted this, let’s see if we can pull this off.”
That seemed all the more certain this week when Donaldson was named in reports related to an investor group looking to buy TikTok’s U.S. operations in an all-cash offer, led by Recruiter.com Ventures founder and CEO Jesse Tinsley. A Monday post on X from Tinsley and a Tuesday announcement from Paul Hastings LLP, a law firm that says it’s advising the group, both identified MrBeast as being part of this effort.
But, contrary to Tuesday night reports, MrBeast spokesperson Matthew Hiltzik said Donaldson hasn’t officially joined any bids.
“Several buyers are holding ongoing discussions with Jimmy,” Hiltzik told The Associated Press Wednesday. “He has no exclusive agreements with any of them.”
Beyond the question of whether Donaldson will be involved, how successful this group’s offer will be has yet to be seen, and a dollar amount for its offer is still unknown. A representative for Tinsley declined to comment when asked for further details on Tuesday. The person also did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday about why Donaldson was named by Tinsley as a participant.
TikTok’s future in the U.S. continues to be uncertain. Under a federal law upheld by the Supreme Court last week, TikTok was supposed to find an approved buyer for its U.S. operations by Jan. 19 or face a nationwide ban. The platform shut off access for U.S. users late Saturday, hours before that deadline, but came back online Sunday with a message crediting then-incoming President Donald Trump, who had vowed to stall the ban.
Trump has said he has a “warm spot” in his heart for TikTok, which he credits with helping him win more young voters during last year’s presidential election. During his first term, he attempted to ban the platform, calling it a national security threat because of its connections with China.
Shortly after taking office on Monday, Trump directed the Justice Department to pause enforcement of the TikTok ban until early April. He also said he is looking to have the U.S. government broker a deal for 50% control of TikTok, adding that “every rich person” has called him about acquiring the social media platform.
On Tuesday, Trump added he’d be open to a purchase of TikTok by Oracle Chairman Larry Ellison and tech titan Elon Musk, who contributed roughly $200 million to a super political action committee that worked to organize Trump support last fall. However, Ellison and Musk have not indicated that they want to buy TikTok.
Several other investors — such as billionaire Frank McCourt and Trump’s former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin — have publicly expressed their interest in purchasing the popular app. Artificial intelligence startup Perplexity AI has also submitted a proposal to TikTok’s China-based parent company, ByteDance, to create a new entity that merges Perplexity with TikTok’s U.S. business, according to a person familiar with the matter.
A consortium launched by McCourt has offered ByteDance $20 billion in cash for the platform, according to “Shark Tank” star Kevin O’Leary, a Canadian investor who also joined that effort. On Tuesday, O’Leary told CNBC that he’s still interested in the platform, but believed that the law, which required ByteDance to divest by Sunday, would prevent it.
“What we need is to go back and ask Congress to open the order and provide for these new options, because they’re not provided for right now,” CNBC quoted him as saying.
After the bipartisan TikTok law was signed by former President Joe Biden in April, ByteDance said it did not have plans to sell the platform and fought the statute in court for months. China also rebuked Washington over the divestment push, though more recently it appears to be softening its stance.
In media interviews this week, Bill Ford, the chairman of the global investing firm General Atlantic and a ByteDance board member, said the company is prepared to engage with the Trump administration and Chinese officials to find a solution that keeps TikTok available. Representatives for ByteDance and TikTok did not respond to emails seeking comment.
