Jimmy Donaldson, known as MrBeast, has joined a cash offer to acquire TikTok’s US operations, as President Donald Trump signals openness to potential buyers including Elon Musk and Larry Ellison.
Donaldson, 26, who earned $85 million last year as the world’s highest-paid content creator, has partnered with tech entrepreneur Jesse Tinsley and a group of unnamed institutional investors, law firm Paul Hastings announced on Tuesday.
The bid comes as TikTok navigates uncertainty in the US market after briefly shutting down operations ahead of a January 19 deadline requiring its Chinese parent ByteDance to sell the app’s US business.
Trump subsequently suspended enforcement of the sale requirement through an executive order.
“I’ll buy TikTok so it doesn’t get banned”, Donaldson wrote on X on January 13, later claiming he had discussed a potential bid with “a bunch of billionaires”.
The value of the all-cash offer was not disclosed, though Trump estimated TikTok’s worth at $1 trillion with US operating permits. The president expressed support for potential bids from Tesla CEO Musk or Oracle founder Ellison.
Republican lawmakers have questioned the legality of suspending the TikTok sale requirement, while major platforms including Apple and Google had not reinstated the app on their stores as of Tuesday, according to Reuters.
