Frank McCourt announced on Monday that Alexis Ohanian, co-founder of Reddit and a noted venture capitalist, has joined his bid to acquire TikTok's U.S. operations.
Ohanian will serve as a strategic adviser specializing in social media, lending his extensive experience in the tech sector to support what McCourt has dubbed "The People's Bid."
The announcement was made during discussions outlining Project Liberty, McCourt’s proposal to purchase the U.S. assets of TikTok. McCourt stated that the bid is designed to run the popular video-sharing app on technology that would give users greater control over how their data is used and shared. "He has that broad portfolio of experience … of where social media was and, I think, a keen understanding of where it’s evolving," McCourt said, referring to Ohanian’s background.
Ohanian, who helped found Reddit while studying at the University of Virginia and later returned to the company as executive chair after its sale to Conde Nast, has since built a portfolio of investments in tech companies including Instacart, Patreon, and OpenSea. He expressed enthusiasm about contributing to the project and advancing the goal of increased data control for users.
McCourt, a former owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers, and his partners submitted their bid for TikTok in early January. The bid came as a deadline approached requiring ByteDance, the Chinese parent company of TikTok, to sell the app’s U.S. operations or face a potential ban. The app was briefly shut down in the U.S. just before the ban was scheduled to take effect on January 19, but services were later restored following intervention by President-elect Donald Trump, who granted a 75-day delay in enforcing the ban and tasked Vice President JD Vance with overseeing the sale process.
In addition to the Project Liberty team, other bidders—ranging from tech entrepreneurs to investment groups—are vying for control of TikTok’s U.S. assets. McCourt has already submitted detailed information about his financing, technological approach, and plans to address national security concerns to the White House. He noted that ByteDance has so far shown only minimal engagement, having not retained a banker or defined a clear set of assets for sale, leaving open the possibility that the company might opt to shut down the app rather than sell it.
The move represents another chapter in the ongoing debate over the future of TikTok in the United States, as policymakers and industry stakeholders continue to assess both the national security implications and the broader impact of social media on data privacy. With figures like Ohanian joining the bid, Project Liberty aims to leverage its combined expertise to offer a new model for managing one of the world's most widely used digital platforms.
Britain’s Information Commissioner’s Office has launched an investigation into how TikTok, Reddit, and Imgur handle and safeguard the personal data of child users. The inquiry comes amid growing concerns over the potential exposure of harmful content to young audiences on social media platform.
ByteDance’s TikTok announced a major investment plan during an event in Bangkok on Friday, revealing that the popular social media platform will invest $8.8 billion in data centres across Thailand over the next five years.
San Francisco/New York, February 24, 2025 – In a significant milestone for the creator economy, TikTok - together with its Chinese counterpart Douyin - generated $6 billion in in-app purchase (IAP) revenue in 2024, making it the first non-game app to achieve this feat in a single year.
TikTok returned to the U.S. app stores of Apple and Google on Thursday as President Donald Trump delayed a ban on the Chinese-owned social media app and assured the tech giants they would not be fined for distributing or maintaining it.
James Harrison's rare blood, which he donated over a thousand times, is estimated to have saved the lives of over 2 million children in Australia.
This Ramadan, a long-awaited reunion took place as a former prisoner broke his fast for the first time in over two decades, surrounded by family. The emotional gathering marked a significant moment, as he and his loved ones came together once again.
TSMC to invest $100 Billion in U.S. chip manufacturing, President Trump announces from The White House
Britain’s Information Commissioner’s Office has launched an investigation into how TikTok, Reddit, and Imgur handle and safeguard the personal data of child users. The inquiry comes amid growing concerns over the potential exposure of harmful content to young audiences on social media platform.
A centuries old tradition of cheese-throwing has brought excitement to the town of Novara di Sicilia as its residents both young and old trooped out en masse to participate in the game.
Norway’s government has affirmed that it will continue to supply fuel for U.S. Navy vessels, dismissing recent calls from a private marine fuel supplier to halt deliveries amid tensions linked to U.S.-Ukrainian relations.
Mountain View, CA, February 24, 2025 – In a move to bolster account security and curb global SMS abuse, Google is set to phase out its SMS-based two-factor authentication (2FA) option for Gmail users, according to a report by Forbes.
Watch AnewZ Live Coverage of the Trump-Zelenskyy meeting at the Oval Office at https://anewz.tv/tv-live
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reaffirmed his respect for the United States and its people in an interview with Fox News, following a tense meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House.
Chinese AI startup DeepSeek has stirred conversation in the tech community by claiming that its AI models could achieve a “cost profit margin” of 545% under ideal conditions.
OpenAI has unveiled GPT-4.5, its most expansive AI model yet, code-named Orion. The new release marks a significant milestone in the evolution of the company’s language models, boasting increased computing power and a more extensive dataset than any previous version.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has announced that meme coins are not considered securities and are therefore exempt from the federal laws governing financial instruments.
Amazon is set to roll out Alexa+, a next-generation update to its popular voice assistant powered by generative AI, with early access scheduled to begin in March.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) has announced the development of a new quantum computing chip, dubbed Ocelot, which it believes could shave up to five years off its timeline for building a commercially viable quantum computer.
James Harrison's rare blood, which he donated over a thousand times, is estimated to have saved the lives of over 2 million children in Australia.
This Ramadan, a long-awaited reunion took place as a former prisoner broke his fast for the first time in over two decades, surrounded by family. The emotional gathering marked a significant moment, as he and his loved ones came together once again.
TSMC to invest $100 Billion in U.S. chip manufacturing, President Trump announces from The White House
Britain’s Information Commissioner’s Office has launched an investigation into how TikTok, Reddit, and Imgur handle and safeguard the personal data of child users. The inquiry comes amid growing concerns over the potential exposure of harmful content to young audiences on social media platform.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment