Joined forces! Walmart joins the acquisition of TikTok's global business-Food Squad

*This article is reproduced from "Seattle Online"

Microsoft Corp, headquartered in Redmond, Washington, joined forces with Walmart Inc, the world’s largest retailer chain,Join in the bidding competition to buy the most popular video sharing app TikTok from China's ByteDance.The other player in this competition is Oracle Corp.

Obviously, Microsoft is not only interested in TikTok's American social video business. It has expanded its appetite to buy the core technology, stocks and global business of the video application in Europe, India and other places. Now the cooperation with Wal-Mart obviously means It will introduce the application's successful electronic business model in China and the development and operation of video advertising functions in the United States.

Wal-Mart has confirmed its involvement in this commercial cooperation today.

TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer (Kevin Mayer) announced his departure on the 26th, which is likely to mean that the transaction is about to be concluded.

A person familiar with the negotiations, who did not want to be named, told reporters on Thursday (27th) that a competitive offer appeared during the negotiation of the deal and it would take more time to determine the final details. Microsoft and its new partners, as well as Oracle, will submit their bids within a week.

For this,TikTok and Microsoft both declined to comment, and Oracle did not respond to reporters' requests for comment.

However, Wal-Mart confirmed on Thursday that it is in a "partnership" with Microsoft in commercial negotiations for TikTok, a move aimed at strengthening Wal-Mart's third-party market and emerging advertising business. Wal-Mart also stated that the joint bidding will "meet the expectations of American TikTok users and the concerns of U.S. government regulators."

In China and other regions, similar applications by ByteDance provide powerful e-commerce functions and video advertisements. So far, these functions are not applicable in the US version of TikTok. People familiar with the matter said that Wal-Mart’s addition to Microsoft’s transaction will allow the retail giant to play a similar role in the US market.

Microsoft and Wal-Mart have previously cooperated in cloud applications to compete with Amazon.

Fearing the impact on national security, the White House has been pushing TikTok to sell its US business. Microsoft is currently the largest bidder. In early August, it began negotiations to acquire TikTok's business in the US, New Zealand, Australia and Canada.

President Trump later issued an executive order requiring TikTok to be sold to a US company before mid-September, otherwise the app would be prohibited from operating in the US.

TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer (Kevin Mayer) left yesterday (26th), which is likely to mean that the transaction is about to be concluded.

Meyer revealed in an internal memo: "Because we hope to reach a resolution as soon as possible, I have to tell everyone with a heavy heart that I have decided to leave the company." He also frankly "In recent weeks, due to the political environment With rapid changes, I have deeply thought about the changes that the company’s structure will face and what my global role means."

It is reported that White House Trump economic adviser Peter Navarro tends to ban the app completely against Microsoft's acquisition of TikTok, while Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin holds the opposite view. But the White House and the Treasury Department declined to comment on this rumor.

TikTok US has about 200 million active users. External analysis believes that the value of its US and global business is between 500 billion and XNUMX billion US dollars.