According to CNBC, Perplexity AI officially shortlisted TikTok on Saturday, submitting an acquisition offer to its parent company ByteDance, hoping to create a new entity formed by the merger of Perplexity, TikTok US and New Capital Partners.

The new structure will allow most of ByteDance’s existing investors to retain their stakes and will bring more videos to Perplexity, according to a person familiar with the matter. The source asked to remain anonymous due to the confidentiality of the potential deal.

Confusing Artificial Intelligence AI Search engine startup competes with OpenAI Googlestarting in 2024, approx. US$500 million Valuation, the valuation at the end of the year is Approximately US$9 billionAfter attracting growing investor interest in the generative AI boom, and Controversy over plagiarism accusations.

AI-assisted search has been viewed by investors as a Google’s A major risk as it could change the way consumers obtain information online. Last year, OpenAI launched a generative AI boom at the end of 2022 with ChatGPT. introduce A search engine called SearchGPT. Google later roll out “AI Overview” in search, allowing users to see a quick summary of answers at the top of the results.

While any potential deal between Perplexity AI and ByteDance could take months to close — and TikTok Already said The app will be ‘shut down’ in the US on Sunday unless the Biden administration guarantees no penalties appleGoogle and other service providers host it — President-elect Donald Trump told NBC News on Saturday He will “likely” give TikTok another 90 days to reach a deal after being sworn in 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 working with us to find solutions that will keep TikTok available in the United States.”

ByteDance has publicly hinted Won’t sell That’s part of the reason Perplexity AI believes its bid has a chance, since the proposal is a merger rather than a sale, sources told CNBC.

Sources believe a reasonable price is “well above $50 billion,” but the final figure attached to the proposal will depend in part on which of ByteDance’s existing shareholders want to retain a piece of the new entity and which want to cash out.

Correction: Perplexity AI’s acquisition of TikTok will create a new combined entity that combines Perplexity, TikTok US and New Capital Partners. A previous version of this article incorrectly described one of the participants.