Walmart joins Microsoft in TikTok acquisition bid, Oracle offers $20 billion

By Meira Gebel August 27, 2020

Walmart has joined Microsoft in its bid to acquire TikTok, the Chinese-owned video app popular among Generation Z, according to multiple reports on Thursday, August 27.

Microsoft has long been the frontrunner in TikTok’s very public purchase battle since President Donald Trump threatened to ban the app over national security concerns. Walmart’s “partnership would meet both the expectations of U.S. TikTok users while satisfying the concerns of U.S. government regulators,” the company said in a statement on Thursday. Trump ordered that the app be sold by a September deadline.

“The way TikTok has integrated e-commerce and advertising capabilities in other markets is a clear benefit to creators and users in those markets,” a Walmart spokesperson told CNBC in a statement.

But Walmart is not the only billion-dollar company joining in on potential acquisition bids. On Thursday, The Wrap reported that Oracle, which sells software and cloud engineering technology, offered ByteDance, which owns TikTok, $20 billion — $10 billion in cash, and $10 billion in Oracle stock — while also agreeing that half of any of TikTok’s profits will go right back to ByteDance. This is the first time a dollar amount has been placed on the purchase of the social media app, which has an estimated value of up to $50 billion.

TikTok will reportedly announce more details on the deal in the coming days, according to The New York Times, but it still remains unclear which acquisition deal will come out on top.

Digital Trends reached out to TikTok, Microsoft, Walmart, and Oracle for more information. We will update this story when we hear back.

On Wednesday, TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer resigned from his post after three months, citing political pressure from the Trump administration, but told employees in a letter to expect a resolution to the acquisition soon.

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