U.S. search engine startup Perplexity AI has revised the merger proposal it had submitted to TikTok’s Chinese parent ByteDance to create a new entity combining Perplexity and TikTok U.S. The proposal calls for the U.S. government to own up to 50% of the new company upon a future initial public offering (IPO). Under the proposal, ByteDance would sell TikTok U.S. to the investors, which would give TikTok’s existing investors equity in the company. The proposal would also exclude TikTok’s core recommendation algorithm, which ByteDance would keep. The U.S. government would own up to half of the new structure once it goes through an IPO of a valuation of at least $300 billion. CNBC first reported news of the proposal.

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/markets/deals/perplexity-ai-revises-tiktok-merger-proposal-that-could-give-us-government-50-2025-01-26/