Microsoft Teams Up With Walmart in Bid to Acquire TikTok’s US Business

Microsoft is working with Walmart on its efforts to buy TikTok’s US business from China’s ByteDance.

Walmart said it believes TikTok’s integration of e-commerce and advertising in the popular video-sharing app would be a valuable fit for its business. The idea would be to help turn TikTok into more of an e-commerce app for creators and users, much like what TikTok parent company ByteDance does with a similar app in China.

Walmart said in a statement to CNBC that it believes TikTok’s integration with advertising “is a clear benefit to creators and users in those markets,” and offers an opportunity to bring a new spin to e-commerce. “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 [its different types of] customers as well as grow our third-party marketplace and advertising businesses,” Walmart said.

Walmart added, “We are confident that a Walmart and Microsoft partnership would meet both the expectations of U.S. TikTok users while satisfying the concerns of US government regulators.”

A Walmart and Microsoft partnership wouldn’t be the first both companies. Microsoft and Walmart teamed up to take on Amazon a couple of years ago. The deal has led to Walmart using Azure and Microsoft 365 across its business, alongside new projects focused on machine learning, artificial intelligence, and data platforms.

The latest development for TikTok comes after CEO Kevin Mayer said Wednesday that he would resign, a little over three months after leaving Disney. His exit comes after the Trump’s administration ordered ByteDance to sell the TikTok app business in the US, citing national-security fears, no later than November 12.