‘Shark Tank’ star Kevin O’Leary pivots to buy TikTok – if Trump can push China to sell

Kevin O’Leary wants to buy TikTok, and he spent the weekend at Mar-a-Lago trying to convince President-elect Donald Trump that he’s the right guy to run the controversial short video app.

Several news reports said O’Leary — aka Mr. Wonderful of the “Shark Tank†franchise — had hung out at The Donald’s Palm Beach resort to discuss Trump’s thoughts on buying parts of the Western Hemisphere, including his native Canada.

But On The Money has learned that the “51st state” wasn’t high on the agenda, TikTok was. O’Leary, a serial entrepreneur, wants to add the app to his holdings.

It’s not an easy lift and the future of the app operating in the US is at stake.

TikTok is particularly popular with the younger set, but a bipartisan-backed ban will go into effect if Chinese company ByteDance, which answers to the Chinese Communist Party, doesn’t strip the app in the US by Sunday.

The fear is that the CCP is using the app for craft espionage purposes.

One of the few things Republicans agreed on with President Joe Biden, even as his frail presidency comes to an end, was to ban TikTok and remove the threat of making it impossible to download from US app stores.

The Chinese don’t want to sell the all-important algorithm that allows you to post all those crazy dance videos and have vowed to shut it down.

But O’Leary tells On The Money that he is teaming up with billionaire Frank McCourt and has enough money — say $20 billion plus — to build their app and buy the name and business from the Chinese. €” if they are sellers.

This is where Trump comes in. Trump also wanted to ban TikTok again during his first term, but has now converted as he believes he was able to use the app to win over voters, especially among young people.

He can use his influence with Chinese President Xi Jinping to make a deal that takes it out of Chinese hands at a price that makes everyone happy.

On Wednesday, reports emerged that Trump was considering issuing an executive order once he takes office on Monday that would delay the ban by several months.

O’Leary told On The Money that Trump just wants the business in US hands (apparently his Canadian citizenship is close enough).

But Trump, he said, made no commitment, especially to him.