US Senators Urge Biden to Extend TikTok Ban Date; Perplexity’s Value Triples

News in brief: US Senators Urge Biden to Extend TikTok Ban Date; Perplexity’s Value Triples; Sony to Become Largest Shareholder of Kadokawa

US Senators Urge Biden to Extend TikTok Ban Date

The US Supreme Court has agreed to hear TikTok’s last legal arguments in regard to its ban in the country. This will take place on the 10th January 2025, nine days before the ban is due to come into effect, reports Reuters. Additionally, Democratic Senator Ed Markey and Republican Senator Rand Paul have urged President Biden to extend the date set for the ban by 90 days. They wrote: "Given the law’s uncertain future and its consequences for free expression, we urge you to trigger the 90-day extension before January 19.” 

Perplexity’s Value Triples

Following its latest round of funding, AI company Perplexity will be finishing the year having tripled its value. The fourth funding round this year has increased its value to a staggering USD$9bn (£7.19bn), bringing it closer to being able to compete with rivals in the space such as OpenAI. The round of funding was led by Institutional Venture Partners, according to the FT. Currently, the AI-powered search engine has 15 million monthly active users. 

Sony to Become Largest Shareholder of Kadokawa

Sony and Kadokawa have signed a business alliance agreement which will see Sony becoming Kadokawa’s biggest shareholder. Sony will acquire 10% of its shares for approximately 50bn yen (£255m). Both entertainment giants have expressed interest in collaborations such as joint content investments, discovery of new creators and promotion of further media mixes with both companies’ IP.