A new measure in the US threatens to ban TikTok or force its sale, and Bobby Kotick, the former CEO of Activision Blizzard who resigned at the end of last year, appears interested in purchasing the app. At last week’s conference dinner, Kotick reportedly brought up the notion of collaborating on a purchase with Zhang Yiming, the executive chair of ByteDance, and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, among others dining with him. According to the WSJ, TikTok would probably fetch hundreds of billions of dollars if it were sold.
Despite leading Activision for more than 30 years, Kotick’s departure wasn’t particularly amicable. Under his direction, the business was accused of encouraging sexual harassment and gender discrimination in what was called a “pervasive frat boy workplace culture,” according to a 2021 lawsuit that was settled last year. Shortly after, the Wall Street Journal revealed that Kotick knew about accusations of misbehavior and assault throughout the years, but failed to appropriately tell the board about some of these incidents. It was reported at the time by The Verge that he had also been accused of harassment. “Misleading,” was how Activision Blizzard described the report.
After the information came to light, Activision Blizzard employees walked out and demanded Kotick resign, but that did not happen. Kotick ultimately stayed on as head of Activision Blizzard until the completion of Microsoft’s acquisition in 2023.
Kotick’s alleged interest in TikTok comes at a tumultuous moment for the immensely popular platform after lawmakers introduced the “Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act” last week, which President Biden said he would sign, if it passes. Under the bill, which goes to the House floor on Wednesday for a vote, TikTok’s China-based parent company, ByteDance, would have to sell the app within six months. Otherwise, it’ll be banned from US app stores.
TikTok has been trying to get its millions of US users to rally behind it in wake of the bill’s sudden momentum, and sent out push notifications last week asking users to call their representatives. After the House vote, where it’s expected to be approved after clearing the Energy and Commerce Committee in a unanimous vote last week, the bill would move on to the Senate. While lawmakers’ concerns about TikTok center on fears of data privacy and its connection to China, WSJ notes that involving Altman in its purchase could open the app up to the possibility of being used by OpenAI to train its AI models, which doesn’t exactly sound ideal for users, either.
