An investor has an offer for TikTok and says if successful, it will create a Silicon Valley in Wyoming.
Reid Rasner from Casper says TikTok and the technology will go along with what he calls the state's other legacy industries: energy, agriculture, and tourism.
Watch the full video of this story below:
He added that he is confident that he's the one that can get the deal done.
Rasner has always had lofty goals and big ambitions, including the 2024 Wyoming U.S. Senate race, which he lost to incumbent Sen. John Barrasso in the Republican primary.
But the 40-year-old Casper native has never done something quite like this.
“It's an amazing investment for America,” Rasner said.
TikTok, which is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, is a video-based app that is among the biggest in the United States. Because of its reach, concerns have arisen that user data could fall into the hands of the Chinese government.
Congress voted to ban the app in 2024 unless it was sold to a U.S. owner. On Jan. 19, 2025, President Donald Trump issued an executive order that would effectively allow TikTok to exist for 75 days in U.S. until April, while still pushing for a sale.
The administration is reviewing TikTok to pursue a resolution that protects national security.
Rasner and his investment group said they have made a $47.45 billion offer to purchase TikTok.
“It's an amazing investment for Wyoming and the Mountain West states here will all benefit from this,” Rasner said. “That's for sure.”
Rasner is the CEO and founder of Omnivest Financial in Casper and says the offer is an investment and also about national security.
He believes more than 170 million Americans on TikTok may have had their security and data breached.
“We're going to acquire TikTok and the algorithm, and there will be a clean break from ByteDance and the Chinese government for both of those,” Rasner said. “And we're going to bring it home right here to America.”
The Chinese government was also a concern when the 2023 Montana Legislature passed a law banning TikTok, even though that law was later blocked in court.
Rasner's investment addresses the Legislature's concerns about rights to privacy and the Chinese government's access to information.
“It looks like it's going to move into what the whole intent of the bill was,” said state Sen. Shelly Vance, R-Belgrade.
Vance was the main sponsor of Senate Bill 419 and supports Rasner's plan. He says the intent of the bill was not to take away business opportunities on TikTok.
“It was completely all about the Chinese Communist Party and their evil ways,” Vance said.
Others, including Shark Tank's Kevin O'Leary and popular YouTuber Mr. Beast, have also made offers to acquire TikTok.
But Rasner believes he's the man who has what it takes to make it happen, a potential purchase that would put TikTok in American hands.
“We want to use these platforms as they were intended to be used,” said Rasner. “It's social media, not censored media.”
