G7 Explores AI Access Deal With U.S. Amid Anthropic Restrictions 
Chinese Social Media Giant Xiaohongshu Eyes Hong Kong IPO at Over $70 Billion Valuation 
Ukrainian Drone Makers Target Japan and Asia Defense Market 
SoftBank Shares Drop as OpenAI Losses and Rising Costs Spark Investor Concerns 
TD Bank Expands Employee Monitoring Software to Boost Productivity Amid Privacy Concerns 
Meta AI Strategy Faces Challenges as Zuckerberg Admits Mistakes in Internal Memo 
J.P. Morgan Sees Potential Vestas Guidance Upgrade Amid Strong Wind Energy Demand 
Anthropic Restricts Global Access to AI Models After U.S. Security Review 
SpaceX Stock Gets $175 Target as Analysts See Massive Growth Ahead 
GM and Lockheed Martin Partner to Strengthen U.S. Defense Manufacturing Capacity 
SK Hynix Shares Hit Record High After Shipping Next-Generation HBM4E AI Memory Samples 
Samsung Gains Interest from BYD, Google, AMD as AI Chip Demand Strains TSMC Capacity 
Apple Signals Product Price Hikes Amid Rising Memory Chip Costs 
Frank Stronach Found Guilty of Sexual Assault and Indecent Assault in Ontario Court 
Meta Seeks Legal Shield From Child-Harm Lawsuits Amid KOSA Talks 
Google Gemini Co-Lead Noam Shazeer Leaves for OpenAI Amid AI Talent Race 
Hanmi Semicon Shares Surge After $33 Million SpaceX Investment 
Former Activision CEO Bobby Kotick is eyeing TikTok for his next venture, involving discussions with ByteDance's Zhang Yiming and OpenAI's Sam Altman, amid a pivotal US legislative push that could mandate the app's sale to a US-based entity.
Bobby Kotick Eyes TikTok Venture Amid Legislative Pressure on ByteDance
According to The Wall Street Journal, Kotick, who left Activision after its acquisition by Microsoft last year, has expressed an interest in buying TikTok to both Zhang Yiming, the cofounder of its parent company ByteDance, and OpenAI's Sam Altman.
According to the Journal, Kotick proposed the idea to Altman at a dinner during the Sun Valley conference last week and is looking for partners on a potential deal. The Journal reports that OpenAI could theoretically use TikTok to train its AI models.
Kotick is reportedly making the pitch as legislation is gaining traction in Congress that, if passed, would force TikTok to sell to a US-based owner or close down.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee unanimously approved the proposed legislation last week. The House is scheduled to vote on Wednesday, and if approved, it will proceed to the Senate. President Joe Biden has indicated that he will sign the bill.
The Journal estimates TikTok's potential value to be hundreds of billions of dollars, but Kotick's discussions may be irrelevant. A TikTok spokesperson told the Journal that the proposed bill is an effective ban because selling to a US entity would be impractical and reduce the company's global appeal.
Kotick's TikTok Ambitions Face Regulatory Hurdles and Legacy Controversies
Lawmakers want to ban China-owned TikTok out of fear that it will be forced to hand over user data to the Chinese government, as per Business Insider.
Some controversy marked Kotick's time at Activision. A Wall Street Journal investigation in 2021 discovered that he was aware of claims of sexual harassment and rape at the company for years and, in one case, intervened to keep a studio head accused of harassment.
A spokesperson at the time stated that the investigation was a misleading view of Activision Blizzard and the former CEO.
Photo: Jordan Matter/Flickr
