Jeff Bezos-Backed Perplexity Revises TikTok Merger Deal, Proposes Giving US Government 50% Stake: Report

Jeff Bezos-backed Perplexity AI has reportedly submitted a revised proposal to merge with TikTok’s U.S. business, offering the U.S. government a 50% stake in the new entity.

What Happened: The new plan, submitted to TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance last week, allows the U.S. government to own up to 50% of the merged entity through a $300 billion initial public offering, reported the Associated Press, citing a person familiar with the matter. 

The U.S. government would not gain voting rights or board representation under this proposal. However, ByteDance would retain ties to the app without the proprietary algorithm that powers TikTok’s content recommendation system.

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Why It Matters: This proposal is a revision of an earlier plan that Perplexity AI submitted to ByteDance, which included other investors but did not secure a response from the Chinese tech giant.

Previously, President Donald Trump indicated his willingness to see Tesla Inc. TSLA CEO Elon Musk or Oracle Corp. ORCL chairman Larry Ellison take ownership of TikTok.

Other investors, including Jimmy Donaldson, also known as MrBeast, and Shark Tank’s Kevin O’Leary, have also been linked to TikTok’s U.S. operations.

After an executive order from President Trump, reports suggest that TikTok users in the U.S. are also noticing heightened censorship on the platform.

Image via Shutterstock

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Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of Benzinga Neuro and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.