TikTok has been in an incredibly tough spot lately. While everyone you know uses it for hours on end, the video-sharing app is currently facing legislation that would force it to be banned in the United States pending a potential sale, with potential buyers lining up.Unfortunately, one of the buyers reportedly Bobby KotickAccording to the former boss of Activision Blizzard wall street journal.
TikTok has come under scrutiny for years from U.S. lawmakers who believe its Chinese parent company ByteDance could share the data it collects with the Chinese government or that the app could serve as a propaganda tool. While tensions had been rising some time ago, leading many to believe the app would be banned in the U.S., things seemed to have cooled down until the House Energy and Commerce Committee passed a bill last week that increased pressure on ByteDance. The bill is expected to be reviewed and approved by the House this week before going to the Senate, and President Joe Biden has said he would sign a ban if it passes legislation.
The bill requires ByteDance to “divest” TikTok or the app will be banned in the United States, which has sparked interest from potential buyers, including Kotick.According to Kotick wall street journalSources revealed that the idea of an acquisition has been raised with ByteDance’s co-founders, and it is reportedly looking for partners, which may include OpenAI’s Sam Altman.according to wall street journal“If a partner like Kotick is able to raise capital for such an acquisition, OpenAI could use TikTok to help train its artificial intelligence models.” TikTok’s sales are estimated to be in the “hundreds of billions” of dollars.
Kotick left Activision Blizzard late last year after completing his job as a publisher $68 billion sale to Microsoft.Kotick’s tenure at Activision Blizzard spanned decades and came under criticism in 2021, when the state California files lawsuit It follows an investigation into the company’s alleged misogynistic workplace culture and allegations of rampant sexual misconduct and discrimination. California Department of Civil Rights reaches settlement with Activision Blizzard in December 2023 $54 million.
according to a report wall street journal At the time, Kotick knew everything that was happening to his men, and refuse to solve the problem.Activision Blizzard denies any wrongdoing in the CRD case, and the settlement agreement includes a statement, according to Game Industry Network“No court or independent investigation has substantiated any of the allegations. Microsoft completed the acquisition last year, and Kotick was allowed to walk away with a golden parachute estimated to be worth about $15 million.
Updated: April 1, 2024 at 2:00 pm (Eastern Time): This article has been updated to include details of the CRD settlement, in which Activision Blizzard denies any wrongdoing and the settlement confirms that CRD was unable to substantiate the allegations.