Jimmy Donaldson — better known online as MrBeast — isn't in the TikTok bidding race just yet, according to a representative for the YouTube star.
Donaldson stirred interest in a Jan. 13 post on X saying he’d “buy TikTok so it doesn’t get banned.” The next day, Donaldson added, “Unironically I’ve had so many billionaires reach out to me since I tweeted this, let’s see if we can pull this off.”
That seemed all the more certain this week when Donaldson was named in reports related to an investor group looking to buy the TikTok's U.S. operations in an all-cash offer, led by Recruiter.com Ventures founder and CEO Jesse Tinsley. A Monday post on X from Tinsley and a Tuesday announcement from Paul Hastings LLP, a law firm that says it’s advising the group, both identified MrBeast as being part of this effort.
But, contrary to Tuesday night reports, MrBeast spokesperson Matthew Hiltzik said Donaldson hasn’t officially joined any bids.
“Several buyers are holding ongoing discussions with Jimmy,” Hiltzik told The Associated Press Wednesday. “He has no exclusive agreements with any of them.”
Beyond the question of whether Donaldson will be involved, how successful this group's offer will be has yet to be seen, and a dollar amount for its offer is still unknown. A representative for Tinsley declined to comment when asked for further details on Tuesday. The person also did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday about why Donaldson was named by Tinsley as a participant.
TikTok's future in the U.S. continues to be uncertain. Under a federal law upheld by the Supreme Court last week, TikTok was supposed to find an approved buyer for its U.S. operations by Jan. 19 or face a nationwide ban. The platform shut off access for U.S. users late Saturday, hours before that deadline, but came back online Sunday with a message crediting then-incoming President Donald Trump, who had vowed to stall the ban.
Trump has said he has a “warm spot” in his heart for TikTok, which he credits with helping him win more young voters during last year's presidential election. During his first term, he attempted to ban the platform, calling it a national security threat because of its connections with China.
Shortly after taking office on Monday, Trump directed the Justice Department to pause enforcement of the TikTok ban until early April. He also said he is looking to have the U.S. government broker a deal for 50% control of TikTok, adding that “every rich person” has called him about acquiring the social media platform.
On Tuesday, Trump added he’d be open to a purchase of TikTok by Oracle Chairman Larry Ellison and tech titan Elon Musk, who contributed roughly $200 million to a super political action committee that worked to organize Trump support last fall. However, Ellison and Musk have not indicated that they want to buy TikTok.
Several other investors — such as billionaire Frank McCourt and Trump’s former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin — have publicly expressed their interest in purchasing the popular app. Artificial intelligence startup Perplexity AI has also submitted a proposal to TikTok’s China-based parent company, ByteDance, to create a new entity that merges Perplexity with TikTok's U.S. business, according to a person familiar with the matter.
A consortium launched by McCourt has offered ByteDance $20 billion in cash for the platform, according to “Shark Tank” star Kevin O’Leary, a Canadian investor who also joined that effort. On Tuesday, O’Leary told CNBC that he’s still interested in the platform, but believed that the law, which required ByteDance to divest by Sunday, would prevent it.
“What we need is to go back and ask Congress to open the order and provide for these new options, because they’re not provided for right now,” CNBC quoted him as saying.
After the bipartisan TikTok law was signed by former President Joe Biden in April, ByteDance said it did not have plans to sell the platform and fought the statute in court for months. China also rebuked Washington over the divestment push, though more recently it appears to be softening its stance.
In media interviews this week, Bill Ford, the chairman of the global investing firm General Atlantic and a ByteDance board member, said the company is prepared to engage with the Trump administration and Chinese officials to find a solution that keeps TikTok available. Representatives for ByteDance and TikTok did not respond to emails seeking comment.
FILE - Jimmy Donaldson, the popular YouTube video maker who goes by MrBeast, wears a Lionel Messi jersey as he stands in a sideline box at the start of an MLS soccer match between Inter Miami and CF Montreal Sunday, March 10, 2024, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell, File)
The TikTok app logo is shown on an iPhone on Friday, Jan. 17, 2025, in Houston. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's photo portrait display at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery has had references to his two impeachments removed, the latest apparent change at the collection of museums he has accused of bias as he asserts his influence over how official presentations document U.S. history.
The wall text, which summarized Trump's first presidency and noted his 2024 comeback victory, was part of the museum's “American Presidents” exhibition. The description had been placed alongside a photograph of Trump taken during his first term. Now, a different photo appears without any accompanying text block, though the text was available online. Trump was the only president whose display in the gallery, as seen Sunday, did not include any extended text.
The White House did not say whether it sought any changes. Nor did a Smithsonian statement in response to Associated Press questions. But Trump ordered in August that Smithsonian officials review all exhibits before the nation celebrates the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence on July 4. The Republican administration said the effort would “ensure alignment with the president’s directive to celebrate American exceptionalism, remove divisive or partisan narratives, and restore confidence in our shared cultural institutions.”
Trump's original “portrait label," as the Smithsonian calls it, notes Trump's Supreme Court nominations and his administration's development of COVID-19 vaccines. That section concludes: “Impeached twice, on charges of abuse of power and incitement of insurrection after supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, he was acquitted by the Senate in both trials.”
Then the text continues: “After losing to Joe Biden in 2020, Trump mounted a historic comeback in the 2024 election. He is the only president aside from Grover Cleveland (1837– 1908) to have won a nonconsecutive second term.”
Asked about the display, White House spokesman Davis Ingle celebrated the new photograph, which shows Trump, brow furrowed, leaning over his Oval Office desk. Ingle said it ensures Trump's “unmatched aura ... will be felt throughout the halls of the National Portrait Gallery.”
The portrait was taken by White House photographer Daniel Torok, who is credited in the display that includes medallions noting Trump is the 45th and 47th president. Similar numerical medallions appear alongside other presidents' painted portraits that also include the more extended biographical summaries such as what had been part of Trump's display.
Sitting presidents are represented by photographs until their official paintings are commissioned and completed.
Ingle did not answer questions about whether Trump or a White House aide, on his behalf, asked for anything related to the portrait label.
The gallery said in a statement that it had previously rotated two photographs of Trump from its collection before putting up Torok's work.
“The museum is beginning its planned update of the America’s Presidents gallery which will undergo a larger refresh this Spring,” the gallery statement said. “For some new exhibitions and displays, the museum has been exploring quotes or tombstone labels, which provide only general information, such as the artist’s name.”
For now, references to Presidents Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton being impeached in 1868 and 1998, respectively, remain as part of their portrait labels, as does President Richard Nixon's 1974 resignation as a result of the Watergate scandal.
And, the gallery statement noted, “The history of Presidential impeachments continues to be represented in our museums, including the National Museum of American History.”
Trump has made clear his intentions to shape how the federal government documents U.S. history and culture. He has offered an especially harsh assessment of how the Smithsonian and other museums have featured chattel slavery as a seminal variable in the nation's development but also taken steps to reshape how he and his contemporary rivals are depicted.
In the months before his order for a Smithsonian review, he fired the head archivist of the National Archives and said he was firing the National Portrait Gallery's director, Kim Sajet, as part of his overhaul. Sajet maintained the backing of the Smithsonian's governing board, but she ultimately resigned.
At the White House, Trump has designed a notably partisan and subjective “Presidential Walk of Fame” featuring gilded photographs of himself and his predecessors — with the exception of Biden, who is represented by an autopen — along with plaques describing their presidencies.
The White House said at the time that Trump himself was a primary author of the plaques. Notably, Trump's two plaques praise the 45th and 47th president as a historically successful figure while those under Biden's autopen stand-in describe the 46th executive as “by far, the worst President in American History” who “brought our Nation to the brink of destruction.”
Barrow reported from Atlanta.
People react to a photograph of President Donald Trump on display at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery's "American Presidents" exhibit on Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026 in Washington. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)
Visitors to the National Portrait Gallery walk past the portrait of President Donald Trump, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)
Visitors stop to look at a photograph of President Donald Trump and a short plaque next to it are on display at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery's "American Presidents" exhibit on Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026 in Washington. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)
A photograph of President Donald Trump and a short plaque next to it are on display at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery's "American Presidents" exhibit on Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026 in Washington. (AP Photo/Anna Johnson)
President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with oil executives in the East Room of the White House, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
