Walmart is teaming up with Microsoft to purchase TikTok

As August wraps up and we march inexorably towards September, TikTok’s running out of time in the United States. But two companies may “save it” before the deadline.

In a statement to CNBC, Walmart has confirmed that it is planning on teaming up with Microsoft to bid on TikTok. The big box retailer sees the potential acquisition of TikTok’s business outside of China as a way to grow its third-party marketplace, and also broaden its marketing side as well. This news arrives hot on the heels that Microsoft may be nearing a deal, and the final results could be finalized in a matter of days.

Per the report:

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,” it said.  “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 story of TikTok in the United States started off well enough, with the social network focused on sharing short-form videos. The popularity of the app, which is owned by the China-based ByteDance, has skyrocketed since its debut. So much so that even the Facebook-owned Instagram is copying it. But things have gotten a bit rocky as of late.

At the beginning of August, the Trump administration announced that if TikTok did not find a buyer from a U.S.-based company (like Microsoft), it would be banned in the country as of September 15, 2020. Microsoft confirmed soon after that it was already in negotiations to buy TikTok, with plans to finalize the talks as soon as possible — one way or another.

Since then, it’s been reported that Apple was interested in buying TikTok as well, but that was quickly shot down. Just last week it was reported that Oracle was yet another company interested in the purchase.

But, as of right now, it sounds like Microsoft (and Walmart) are about to announce something big.

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