An American entrepreneur with a bid to buy the social media app TikTok said South Dakota is the “frontrunner” for the infrastructure of the app’s potential HQ in the US.
Wyoming-native Reid Rasner said he’s had conversations with the app’s legal representation as well as the Trump Administration.
Rasner said he’s put together a strong bid to buy the app and its coveted algorithm.
“And our offer also allows Bytedance, the company [of TikTok], who wants to sell in our conversations a 20% stake in the company, like the legislation allows for. So they get to continue to own 20% of the company,” Rasner said. “China is out, we own the algorithm, we get the digital footprint, and they get to make an amazing amount of money with us. And we get to reinvest that in our states, which is most important when we look at public private partnerships.”
Rasner is up against some big names for the app, including Oracle and Amazon. Yet, he said he’s not too worried.
“Our bid is for $47.45 billion, which is $20 billion ahead of the next highest bid, and we have at least secured that much money I can say,” Rasner said.
But just because Rasner Media has a proposal on the table doesn’t mean it’s going to happen. The proposal must be approved by the federal government, and China must agree to the deal.
“China has to sell. So, I would ask President Trump to facilitate the transaction and sell us Bytedance. We’re ready to sign, our investors are ready,” Rasner said.
Rasner said he’s already had conversations with Bytedance’s legal representation in America and the Trump Administration.
He said plans are in the works to partner with Dakota State University to ensure safe, secure data for Americans.
“We’re gonna work with them through quantum computing, so post-quantum computing, AI and cybersecurity. And we’re going to make sure that your data is not only stored and housed on American-owned databases, and data centers but also American-owned cloud storage and protected by American-owned IP and quantum computing,” Rasner said.
Gov. Larry Rhoden said he’s “excited” at the potential jobs and business the state could stand to benefit from if the deal goes through, as well as working with Rasner and his team.
