WASHINGTON, D.C. – Tech investor and Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian has joined Frank McCourt’s bid to acquire TikTok’s U.S. operations as a strategic adviser, bringing his deep experience in social media to the effort.
McCourt, a real estate mogul and former Los Angeles Dodgers owner, announced on Monday that Ohanian will help promote what he calls “The People’s Bid”—a plan to acquire TikTok and run it on a decentralized technology that gives users more control over their data.
Ohanian, who co-founded Reddit in 2005 and later spearheaded its turnaround as executive chair, has built a reputation for investing in high-profile tech companies, including Instacart, Patreon, and OpenSea.
McCourt believes that experience makes Ohanian a valuable addition to the team.
“He has that broad portfolio of experience … of where social media was and, I think, a keen understanding of where it’s evolving,” McCourt said.
McCourt’s vision for TikTok’s U.S. operations revolves around giving users more agency over their personal data.
His Project Liberty initiative aims to build social media platforms on an open-source infrastructure that prevents centralized control over user information.
“Where he can help mostly is validating but also socializing what we’re doing,” McCourt explained. “On the one hand, this is a project with very sophisticated technology at its core … and then you have a totally different constituency, which is basically non-technologists, who are impacted by this technology more than they realize.”
Ohanian expressed enthusiasm for the project, saying he is eager to contribute to a future where people have more control over their digital lives.
The bid comes as ByteDance, TikTok’s Chinese parent company, faces pressure to divest its U.S. operations.
A January deadline required ByteDance to sell the app to an American entity or risk a ban, leading to a scramble among investors, tech leaders, and content creators eager to take control of the platform’s massive U.S. audience.
While McCourt and his partners submitted their bid in early January, other competitors have also emerged.
One rival group, led by entrepreneur Jesse Tinsley, includes YouTube star MrBeast (Jimmy Donaldson) and Wyoming investor Reid Rasner.
McCourt has submitted detailed information about his bid to the White House, outlining how it addresses national security concerns, financing plans, and the app’s future technological framework.
However, he acknowledged that ByteDance has been slow to engage with potential buyers.
“They have not retained a banker, nor defined a set of assets to be sold—let alone set a valuation,” McCourt said, adding that there is still a possibility that ByteDance could opt to shut down TikTok’s U.S. operations rather than sell.
