Perplexity AI Wants to Merge With TikTok, Give Government Half of the Company

The 75-day reprieve the video app TikTok received to operate in the US has taken another turn. An American AI company wants to merge with TikTok and give half ownership to the government.
Perplexity AI, which has an artificial-intelligence-based search engine, has thrown its hat in with a marriage proposal of sorts that would, in concept, allow TikTok to continue operating after enforcement of a federal ban was temporarily by a president Donald Trump executive order.
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Perplexity, based in San Francisco and with offices in New York and Austin, previously made an offer to merge with TikTok to its parent company ByteDance earlier this month, but the offer has been updated.
Under the new terms, a holding company called NewCo would be formed to guide the merged company toward a $300 billion initial public offering in which the US government would have 50-percent ownership. According to a report from the Associated Press, the government would not have voting power or a seat on the company’s board.
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Perplexity and TikTok did not immediately respond to a request for comment. ByteDance has not publicly responded to the idea of a Perplexity merger.
Read more: Trump Says He Won’t Enforce TikTok Ban Until Spring
Trump previously stated that TikTok could continue operating in the US if it had 50-percent American ownership and the proposal appears structured to conform to that ideal.
TikTok shut down briefly in the US in anticipation of the ban’s enforcement, but was restored just ahead of Trump’s inauguration after he made assurances that he would intervene.
The US Supreme Court upheld the ban in a decision earlier this month. TikTok is owned by Chinese company ByteDance, which has been reluctant to cede ownership, even in the face of losing its entire US audience.
Perplexity is not the only player vying to be part of TikTok’s future. A group called The People’s Bid for TikTok, led by billionaire Frank McCourt and nonprofit Project Liberty, is seeking public endorsements in an effort to create a