(Reuters) – Perplexity AI asked TikTok's Chinese parent company, ByteDance, on Saturday to allow the U.S. search engine startup to merge with TikTok US and create a new entity combining them and New. Capital Partners (WA:), as reported by CNBC.
TikTok faces a US ban starting on Sunday if it does not cut ties with ByteDance, although President-elect Donald Trump said on Saturday that he was likely to give the short-video social media platform a 90-day reprieve on Monday.
The new structure proposed by Perplexity will allow most of ByteDance's existing investors to retain their equity stakes and will bring more video to Perplexity, the report said, citing an unnamed source familiar with the situation.
Perplexity AI and TikTok did not immediately respond to requests for comment. New Capital's partners could not be reached immediately.
The report added that Perplexity AI believes its bid may succeed given that the proposal is a merger and not a sale.
Perplexity AI's search tools allow users to get quick answers to questions, with sources and citations. It is powered by large language models that can summarize and generate information, from the OpenAI model to the open source Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:) Llama.
TikTok, which has taken over nearly half of Americans, powered small businesses and shaped online culture, said on Friday that it will stop operating in the US on Sunday unless President Joe Biden's administration provides guarantees to companies like Apple (NASDAQ:) and Google (NASDAQ:) 🙂 NASDAQ 🙂 They will not face enforcement action when the ban takes effect.
