Walmart joins Microsoft for US TikTok bid
August 28, 2020
Walmart, the US retail giant, has confirmed it will partner with Microsoft to make a bid for the US operations of social media app TikTok.
TikTok, owned by China-based ByteDance, has been ordered to sell its US arm to an American firm or face a ban in the country. US President Donald Trump has alleged it shares its user data with Beijing – claims that ByteDance denies.
Earlier this week, CEO Kevin Mayer resigned.
A Walmart spokesperson told the BBC: “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.”
Microsoft, meanwhile, said it had “nothing to share at this time”.
Walmart, which owns UK supermarket chain Asda, alongside Microsoft will now go up against other prospective bidders, including the US tech giant Oracle.
TikTok’s US operations are estimated to be worth as much as $30 billion. Since its global launch at the end of 2018, the video-sharing app has attracted a huge following, especially amongst the lucrative under-25s.