Perplexity bids to merge with TikTok US

Background

TikTok's US business was running into a deadline. A US ban on the app was due to take effect in January 2025, which meant the question of who would own or operate the US part of the service had to be settled quickly. ByteDance, TikTok's Chinese parent company, had repeatedly stated that it did not intend to sell TikTok.^[3] For any would-be buyer, that statement was the first obstacle, ahead of price, financing or regulatory review.

The bid

On Saturday, 18 January 2025, Perplexity submitted a bid to ByteDance to merge with TikTok US.^[2] The bid was submitted one day before the US ban on TikTok was due to take effect.^[1]

Reuters reported the bid, citing a source familiar with the company's plans, and CNBC first reported the offer.^[2]

What the offer contained

According to TechCrunch, the offer would create a new entity combining Perplexity, TikTok US and new equity partners, with most ByteDance investors able to retain their equity.^[3] The design followed directly from the problem the bidders faced: by merging rather than buying, Perplexity hoped to overcome ByteDance's repeated statement that it did not intend to sell TikTok.^[3]

In other words, the proposal was not a straightforward purchase of an asset. It was a plan to fold the US short-video business into a new company in which existing ByteDance investors could keep a stake, alongside Perplexity and outside equity partners.^[3]

The same month at Perplexity

The bid came in the same month that Perplexity launched Perplexity Assistant.^[1]

Why the bid drew attention

Two things made the proposal hard to ignore. The first was its structure. A purchase would have required ByteDance to sell, a step the company had said it did not want to take, while a merger would place TikTok US inside a new company together with the bidder and other investors.^[3] The second was its timing. The offer landed on 18 January 2025, the day before the ban was due to take effect, at the point when the ownership question was at its most urgent.^[1]

The bid also put an AI company forward as a partner in the ownership of TikTok's US operations, rather than leaving the field to the investors and larger technology firms that had been associated with earlier interest in the asset. As reported, the move was a bid put to ByteDance — a proposal for a merged entity — rather than a completed transaction.^[2][3]

What the reports establish

Read together, the accounts describe a single move made in a narrow window: an offer submitted on a Saturday to TikTok's parent company, one day before a ban deadline, reported first by CNBC and then by Reuters, and detailed by TechCrunch as a merger-based structure designed around ByteDance's stated unwillingness to sell.^[1][2][3] Each of those elements — the date, the counterparty, the structure and the stated motive — is part of the public record of the bid itself.