Activision Blizzard’s former CEO Bobby Kotick, who stepped down late last year, is apparently interested in acquiring TikTok as a new device. or force him to sell. according to the report of , Kotick mentioned the idea of partnering in such an acquisition to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and others who sat with him at a conference dinner last week, and brought it up with ByteDance Executive Chairman Zhang Yiming. If TikTok is for sale, WSJ notes that it will likely run into the hundreds of billions of dollars.
Kotick led Activision for more than 30 years, but he didn’t exactly leave on a good note. In the company was accused of promoting sexual harassment and gender discrimination under his leadership, which was described as a “pervasive workplace culture”. soon stated that Kotick was aware of allegations of abuse and assault over the years, some of which he did not properly disclose to the board. He himself was accused of harassment noted during Activision Blizzard called the report “misleading”.
Once the information is revealed and demanded Kotic’s resignation, but this did not happen. Kotick eventually stayed on as head of Activision Blizzard In 2023.
Kotick’s alleged interest in TikTok comes at a tumultuous time for the wildly popular platform after lawmakers introduced the Protecting Americans from Foreign Enemies Controlled Applications Act last week. if it passed, he would sign it. Under the bill, which will go to the House of Representatives for a vote on Wednesday, TikTok’s China-based parent company, ByteDance, within six months. Otherwise, it will be banned from US app stores.
TikTok tried to rally its millions of US users behind the bill after it suddenly gained momentum, sending out push notifications last week. . After the House vote, the bill will move to the Senate, where it is expected to be approved after being cleared by a unanimous vote in the Energy and Commerce Committee last week. While lawmakers’ concerns about TikTok stem from fears over data privacy and its ties to China, WSJ notes that Altman’s involvement in the acquisition could open up the possibility of the software being used by OpenAI to train artificial intelligence models, which doesn’t seem ideal for users.
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