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Shark Tank investor Kevin O'Leary is holding up his reputation of not mincing words when delivering facts. His latest comments about the TikTok US operations are no exception.
In a video uploaded on his Instagram, Kevin talked to an audience about how he feels that this is a "unique" deal and might set a precedent for how companies that majorly focus on data will navigate negotiations in the future while handling regulatory scrutiny and geopolitical tensions.
It all started with the US Government and its concerns with TikTok leaking the data of its American users. However, to let the app stay in the country, the administration is aiming to buy the algorithm without dismantling the nature of the platform. He wrote in his captions that "TikTok isn’t going anywhere."
Talking about the same, and how it can follow the footsteps of the recent Apple deal that happened in the UAE, Kevin said,
"The TikTok deal is unique. This is going to be like the Apple deal. We're gonna find a way to work it out. The algorithm is, as Mooch said, it rips data. That's not okay."
Shark Tank investor Kevin O'Leary lays out his approach to handling the TikTok deal
Comparing the whole thing to a lentil soup, Kevin, the Shark Tank investor, described the process of isolating user data from the algorithmic code just like the top layer of the soup is skimmed from the bowl.
He talked about how the real national security concern lies in the data being leaked and the capability of the app to do so. He said,
"So we're gonna have to think about it as a lentil soup. Pull the packets of information, the people's information to the top of the soup, separate from the bottom broth, which is all the algorithmic work that lets you really love that product, and the key to this deal may be a guy named Yee Ming who owns 24% of ByteDance."
Yee Ming, as pointed out by Kevin, is one of the key players in the whole TikTok deal. He owns 24% of ByteDance, which is currently valued at around $400 billion according to the Shark Tank investor.
And the US market of TikTok just represents 8% of the entire thing, and thus, Kevin says that even though the app is popular in the country, ByteDance can theoretically afford to let the American version go dark if negotiations fail. Explaining, he said,
"But people don't understand that ByteDance is basically a $400 billion company of which only 8% is TikTok US. So, they don't care if it shuts down.
He added,
But, I think in this cooperation mood that started last night in Apple and the CPP Party agreeing to share tech, this is a huge opportunity for TikTok. Frank McCourt and I have worked on this deal for almost six months, and I think we're gonna get it."
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Shark Tank season 16 episodes release weekly on ABC at 8 PM Eastern Time on Fridays. They are later available to watch on Hulu.
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