ChainCatcher news, Perplexity AI has officially launched a takeover bid for TikTok, submitting an acquisition proposal to its parent company ByteDance, aiming to merge Perplexity, TikTok's U.S. operations, and new capital partners into a new entity.A source revealed that the new structure will allow most of ByteDance's existing investors to retain their equity and will bring more video content to Perplexity.Perplexity AI is an AI search engine startup competing with OpenAI and Google, attracting increasing interest from investors against the backdrop of a booming AI sector. The company's valuation was approximately $500 million in early 2024, with an estimated valuation of around $9 billion by the end of that year.