Walmart Joins Microsoft In A Bid To Buy TikTok

Enlarge this image

A man walks past a Walmart store in Washington, D.C. on July 15. Walmart said it was «confident that its joint deal with Microsoft would satisfy both TikTok users and U.S. government regulators.

Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images

hide caption

toggle caption

Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images

Technology
TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer Resigns Amid Trump Administration’s Growing Pressure On App

«The way TikTok has integrated e-commerce and advertising capabilities in other markets is a clear benefit to creators and users in those markets, Walmart said. «We believe a potential relationship with TikTok US in partnership with Microsoft could add this key functionality and provide Walmart with an important way for us to reach and serve omnichannel customers as well as grow our third-party marketplace and advertising businesses.

The news follows TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer’s surprise resignation on Wednesday. He noted in a letter to staff that «the political environment has sharply changed since he first joined the company.

President Trump this month signed two executive orders aimed at TikTok, aiming to effectively ban the app in the U.S. and ordered the company to sell off all of its U.S. assets to an American-based company. TikTok is fighting via a federal lawsuit.

Walmart teaming up with Microsoft «is the final piece of the puzzle that ultimately cements Microsoft successfully acquiring TikTok’s US operations for likely $35 billion to $40 billion, Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives wrote in a note on Thursday.

Technology
Microsoft Consults With Trump About Ongoing Talks To Buy TikTok From Chinese Firm

«Walmart would be clearly interested in owning TikTok for its potential e-commerce and advertising capabilities to further boost its consumer presence as it further battles Amazon (which cannot touch TikTok given antitrust issues) in the field, Ives said.

Walmart earlier this year sold its video-streaming service Vudu, but still has a deal with Eko, an interactive-video company. Walmart and Microsoft already have a strategic partnership around the tech company’s cloud business.

While the Trump administration has targeted TikTok because of its ties to China, the company has long maintained that its American app is run independently and that U.S. users’ data is stored outside of China, in Virginia, with backup storage in Singapore.

Editor’s note: Walmart and Microsoft are among NPR’s recent financial supporters. TikTok helps fund NPR-produced videos from Planet Money that appear on the social media platform.