MrBeast, YouTube star and the internet’s highest-paid creator, has officially joined the bid to buy TikTok’s US operations.
The 26-year-old teamed up with technology entrepreneur Jesse Tinsley, founder of online HR firm employee.com, to make an all-cash offer for the social video app’s American division. The approach was announced after President Donald Trump said US tech billionaires Elon Musk and Larry Ellison would be open to buying TikTok in the US.
MrBeast (real name Jimmy Donaldson) has expressed interest in buying TikTok in a number of social media posts, writing to X on January 13th, “I’m going to buy TikTok so I don’t get banned.” In a subsequent TikTok post, Donaldson said he had been discussing the bid with “a bunch of billionaires.”
US law firm Paul Hastings announced Donaldson’s bid in a statement on Tuesday. The paper said Mr. Tinsley led an investor group made up of “institutional investors and high-net-worth individuals,” but Mr. Donaldson was the only publicly disclosed member of the group.
The size of the all-cash bid was not disclosed in the statement, but Trump listed a value of $1trn (£811bn) on his app on Tuesday. Donaldson, who has 346 million followers on YouTube, was the world’s most successful internet creator last year, earning $85 million, according to Forbes.
Donaldson’s stunts on his YouTube channel MrBeast, such as “I bought everything at the grocery store,” and perks like giving away an island to his followers to celebrate reaching 100 million subscribers, have propelled him to the Internet. catapulted him into superstardom.
In addition to receiving a cut of the ad revenue generated by YouTube views, it also provides brands with consumer products such as clothing and burgers.
Paul Hastings added that the lawyer leading the team advising on the bid is Brad Bondi, the brother of President Trump’s pick for U.S. attorney general, Pam Bondi.
The US president also floated agreements with either Mr Musk, the world’s richest man, or Mr Ellison, the billionaire founder of Oracle and the world’s fourth richest person. President Trump said at a news conference Tuesday that he was open to Musk’s bid, adding, “If he wanted to buy it, I would do it too.” I want Larry (Ellison) to buy it too. ”
Ellison, who was present at the press conference, said it sounded like a “good deal.” President Trump said TikTok has been given “permission” to operate in the United States with 50% American ownership and is worth $1 trillion.
TikTok’s future in the United States remains uncertain, even though the app returned online on Sunday after its Beijing-based owner ByteDance temporarily shut down its service. TikTok has been forced to act by a Jan. 19 deadline as its Chinese parent company faces a de facto ban if it doesn’t sell the app’s U.S. division.
But the app was reinstated after receiving “assurances” from President Trump, who on Monday issued an executive order halting enforcement of the law requiring the sale of TikTok. The law states that if ByteDance does not complete the sale by January 19, companies such as Apple, Google, and Oracle will be prohibited from distributing or maintaining the app, effectively halting its operations. did.
Some Republican lawmakers have already questioned the legality of the law’s suspension, saying businesses affected by the law must comply and violators face “catastrophic bankruptcy.” He says he will face it. Reuters reported that Apple and Google had not reinstated the app to their app stores by Tuesday.
TikTok, Google and Apple have been contacted for comment.
