Perplexity AI makes a bid to merge with TikTok U.S.

[Pelican Press 0]

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

Perplexity AI makes a bid to merge with TikTok U.S.

Jakub Porzycki | Nurphoto | Getty Images

Perplexity AI officially made a play for TikTok on Saturday, submitting a bid to its parent company, ByteDance, to allow Perplexity to merge with TikTok U.S. and create a new entity combining Perplexity, TikTok U.S. and New Capital Partners, CNBC has learned.

The new structure would allow for most of ByteDance’s existing investors to retain their equity stakes and would bring more video to Perplexity, according to a source familiar with the situation, who asked to remain anonymous due to the confidential nature of the potential deal.

Perplexity AI, the artificial intelligence search engine startup competing with OpenAI and

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

, started 2024 with a roughly $500 million valuation and ended the year with a valuation of about $9 billion, after attracting increasing investor interest amid the generative AI ***** — as well as controversy over plagiarism accusations.

AI-assisted search has been viewed by investors as one of 

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

’s key risks, as it potentially changes the way consumers access information online. Last year, OpenAI, which started the generative AI craze in late 2022 with ChatGPT, introduced a search engine called SearchGPT.

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

later launched “AI Overviews” in search, allowing users to see a quick summary of answers at the top of results.

Though any potential transaction between Perplexity AI and ByteDance would likely take months to complete — and TikTok has said the app will “go dark” in the U.S. on Sunday unless the Biden administration assures it won’t punish Apple,

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

and other service providers for hosting it — President-elect Donald Trump

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

that he “most likely” would give TikTok 90 more days to work out a deal after he is sworn into office on Monday.

In a video posted to TikTok on Friday, CEO Shou Zi Chew said, “I want to thank President Trump for his commitment to work with us to find a solution that keeps TikTok available in the United States.”

ByteDance has publicly implied it

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

TikTok U.S., which is part of why Perplexity AI believes it has a shot with its bid — since the proposal is a merger rather than a *****, the source told CNBC.

The source believes a fair price is “well north of $50 billion” but that the final number attached to the proposal will be decided, in part, by which of ByteDance’s existing shareholders want to remain part of the new entity and which want to cash out.

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

#Perplexity #bid #merge #TikTok #U.S

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

For verified travel tips and real support, visit: https://hopzone.eu/