This whole saga of TikTok in the US being banned by President Trump unless they sell themselves to a US company has been weird. And it just got weirder. If you had Microsoft teams up with WalMart to buy TikTok on your apocalypse BINGO card, then consider yourself lucky. CNBC has the details of what WalMart said to them:
The way Tik Tok has integrated e-commerce and advertising capabilities in other markets is a clear benefit to creators and users in those markets,” the retailer said in a statement. “We believe a potential relationship with Tik Tok 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. We are confident that a Walmart and Microsoft partnership would meet both the expectations of US Tik Tok users while satisfying the concerns of US government regulators.
While WalMart does have other lines of business, such as Viathon bikes which sells high end race bikes, this is a bit of a departure. And there’s the matter of Oracle looking at buying TikTok. They might be in the drivers seat as founder Larry Ellison is a friend of Trump. But given how strange this saga has been, who knows if that’s still the case? Or what other plot twists are coming next. Such as TikTok winning their lawsuit against Trump.