Walmart is teaming up with Microsoft to make a bid for TikTok’s US operations, the company confirmed to CNBC today.
“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 company said in a statement.
“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.”
The report comes on the same day that TikTok’s chief executive officer (CEO), Kevin Mayer, left the company. In a letter to TikTok’s employees, Mayer had said that the company is going to rectify the situation in the US “very soon”.
The letter also seemed to be a public confirmation that TikTok’s global operations will have to be broken up. US President, Donald Trump, had issued an Executive Order earlier giving the company 45 days to either sell its business to a US company or be banned from operating in the country.
Additionally, while Microsoft had been one of the early bidders for TikTok’s US business, the company had said that it is open to partnering with others. Fellow technology giant, Oracle, has reportedly been vying for the app as well.
In Mayer’s absence, TikTok’s General Manager Vanessa Pappas has been named the interim head of the company.
TikTok’s has run into troubles with governments in two of its biggest markets, thanks to larger geopolitical issues. The popular short-video platform was earlier banned in India, by the Narendra Modi government, after the Galwan Valley skirmish with China. The Indian government also banned 57 other Chinese apps, following up later with a list of 47 more apps from China.a
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