Former Barclays boss Bob Diamond is looking to take on TikTok as chair of a social media start-up that claims to be worth more than $3bn, despite revenue of only $36mn and less than $1mn in cash on hand last year.
The new direction for the financier comes after video platform Triller agreed an all-share takeover by AGBA, a small US-listed Hong Kong-based financial services platform with a controversial past. Diamond, who has chaired AGBA since September, will serve in the same capacity at the combined entity.
Shares in AGBA have leapt more than 400 per cent since the deal was announced on April 18. In a press release and presentation discussing the deal, AGBA said Los Angeles-based Triller had been independently valued at $3.2bn and that the combined group would be worth $4bn “on a pro forma basis”. Triller shareholders will hold 80 per cent of the shares.