'Shark Tank's' Kevin O'Leary and billionaire Frank McCourt want to buy TikTok. One problem: It's not for sale

(L-R): Kevin O'Leary, Frank McCourt. The two investors are behind a bid to buy TikTok's US assets from ByteDance ahead of possible US ban. (Frank McCourt Kevin O’Leary SPLIT)

NEW YORK CITY — A group formed by billionaire entrepreneur and former Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt has made a formal offer to buy TikTok from its China-based parent company, ByteDance.

The group, which calls itself The People’s Bid for TikTok and is also backed by “Shark Tank”-famous investor Kevin O’Leary, said Thursday it had delivered a proposal to ByteDance to acquire TikTok’s US assets. It did not disclose the value of the offer.

The bid comes just one day before the  United States Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments over whether to uphold a law that would ban TikTok in the United States starting January 19 if it is not sold, following a legal challenge from the social media company.

But the proposal could face a major problem: ByteDance has repeatedly said TikTok’s not for sale.

After U.S. President Joe Biden signed the law that could ban the app in April, ByteDance swatted down speculation that it was exploring a sale and said that it had no plans to sell TikTok. In a filing to the Supreme Court — which argues that the law would violate the first amendment rights of the platform and its users — the company said the law “will take effect on January 19, 2025, shutting down TikTok for its more than 170 million monthly American users.”

TikTok and ByteDance did not immediately respond to requests for comment about the McCourt group’s bid. TikTok is the first Chinese social media app to become a global success that competes with American tech giants.

The People’s Bid is backed by investment firm Guggenheim Securities, as well as technologists and academics, including world wide web inventor Tim Berners-Lee. And McCourt said the group plans to work with President-elect Donald Trump to close the deal.

The group’s plan is to buy the US version of TikTok without its famous algorithm and rebuild it on American-designed technology, a likely response to a Chinese export control rule requiring a license to sell sensitive technologies. China’s commerce ministry previously said it would “firmly oppose” a forced sale of TikTok.

That effort would “minimize interruption for TikTokers and prioritize privacy and trust on the platform,” the group said in a statement.

“By keeping the platform alive without relying on the current TikTok algorithm and avoiding a ban, millions of Americans can continue to enjoy the platform,” McCourt, who formed the group through his organization dedicated to improving the internet, Project Liberty, said in a statement Thursday. “We look forward to working with ByteDance, President-elect Trump, and the incoming administration to get this deal done.”

But many users and social media experts have questioned whether a sale that excludes the algorithm could be successful, given that the technology that decides what users see on their “For You” feeds is a major reason for the app’s popularity. Other tech giants have struggled to replicate it.

“We want to eliminate the misconception that it can’t sell because no one will buy it without the algorithm. NOT true,” O’Leary said in an X post Wednesday, after announcing he was joining the bid to buy the app earlier this week. “We’ll buy it without the algorithm. We don’t need them. We’ll do it ourselves and make TikTok wonderful again.”