(Reuters) – Perplexity AI asked TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, on Saturday to allow the new U.S. search engine to merge with TikTok US to create a new entity that would combine them and New Capital Partners (WA:), CNBC reported.
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 would likely give the short-form video social media platform a 90-day reprieve on Monday.
The new structure proposed by Perplexity would allow most of ByteDance’s existing investors to retain their ownership stakes and bring more videos 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 Partners could not immediately be reached.
Perplexity AI believes its bid could succeed as it is a merger rather than a sale proposal, the report added.
Perplexity AI search tools allow users to get quick answers to questions, with sources and citations. It’s powered by large language models that can summarize and generate information, from OpenAI to Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:)’ open source model Llama.
TikTok, which has won over nearly half of all Americans, launched small businesses and shaped Internet culture, said Friday it would shut down in the U.S. on Sunday unless President Joe Biden’s administration provides guarantees to companies such as Apple (NASDAQ:) and Google ( NASDAQ: ) that they will not face enforcement action when the ban takes effect.
