Walmart teams up with Microsoft to obtain TikTok in the US

Walmart has partnered with Microsoft in a bid to take TikTok in the US. “We are confident that a Walmart and Microsoft partnership would fit both the expectations of US TikTok users while providing the concerns of US government regulators,” Walmart stated in a statement.

Apart from Microsoft and Walmart, Oracle has also presented bids in a contract that could happen within the week; sources told Bloomberg. Walmart would additionally own a stake in a newly spun-off TikTok business, alongside Microsoft, the people informed.

Walmart in an emailed receipt reported Bloomberg that the move could help grow its third-party online marketplace unit along with its developing advertising arm, two areas that Chief Executive Officer Doug McMillon has stated he’d like to expand.

The two companies now work together, as Walmart uses Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform across the entire company for the broader use of cloud and artificial intelligence. Walmart told TikTok’s integrated e-commerce and advertising capabilities in other markets “is a cleared benefit to creators and users in those markets.”

As per reports, TikTok’s parent company ByteDance is nearing a contract to sell TikTok’s North American, Australian, and New Zealand operations which could be worth $25 billion to $30 billion. Walmart was beginning in discussions with Softbank for a partnership, but it did not materialize since Walmart does not have a cloud technology part.

Microsoft has remained in talks with ByteDance for weeks. In a more initial statement, the company had stated that it plans to finalize the deal with TikTok’s parent company, Bytedance by September 15.

US President Donald Trump has performed an executive order that essentially bans TikTok if it abandons to contract its operations to a US firm. The move was brought in last month when Trump referred to TikTok and WeChat as essential threats to national security.

Kevin Mayer stepped down as TikTok CEO on Thursday in the backdrop of the current political environment in the US.

“Against this backdrop, and as we demand to resolve very soon, it is with a heavy heart that I wanted to let you all know that I have decided to leave the company. I understand that the role that I signed up for — including running TikTok globally — will look very different as a result of the US administration’s action to push for a sell-off of the US business,” Kevin Mayer wrote in a letter to his employees received by FT.