We have seen some rivals emerge to Microsoft’s plans, including Oracle and Twitter. It now seems U.S. retail giant Walmart is also entering the race, but this time as an ally to Microsoft. In fact, the company has confirmed to CNBC it and Microsoft have made a joint bid for TikTok’s U.S. operations. On the surface, the interest in TikTok stems from President Trump seeking to ban the company from the United States. An executive order signed earlier this month stops ByteDance from handling any transactions in the United States. This order will come into effect within 45 days of being signed. So, TikTok is in a race against time to save itself in the U.S., which has led to the idea of being bought by someone. Microsoft appears to be leading the chase, now alongside Walmart. One of the key questions when Microsoft said it had interest in the platform was… why? Microsoft has never gone big on social media and TikTok does not fit into current services outside of Xbox.
Joint Bid
“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 in a statement to Business Insider. “We are confident that a Walmart and Microsoft partnership would meet both the expectations of US TikTok users while satisfying the concerns of US government regulators.”
