As I am sure everyone has heard by now President Trump vs TikTok has been in a major news cycle. Everyday brings weirder and weirder news about what will happen in September.

Microsoft immediately jumped on board being a willing buyer of TikTok business (it is unclear to me whether this is just US customers or the global user base). Would it be two separate apps which do not communicate to each other or is Trump trying to for the sale of the entire ecosystem?

More recently it seems every major US Tech firm is interesting in buying the asset. Does the forced sale mean a valuation discount on the value of the network? This does not make much sense given these companies could have tried to buy TikTok outright without Trump's decision. Oracle has bid $20 billion, is this fair value? I suppose the more bids the closer to fair value it will become.

Now today's odd news which is having a big effect on a large retailer. Walmart wants to partner with Microsoft on purchasing the company. I really can not wrap my head around why Microsoft with their billions in resources needs a partner to purchase this asset. However, Walmart has thought of a plan to use the network: "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."

It will be interesting to see if Walmart and Microsoft combined bid will win and what it can do to help Walmart continue to grow their ecommerce ecosystem. What is known at the moment is that the market thinks there is a good chance Walmart's bid will win and it will significantly help the business. The share price of WMT is rising more today on this news than it did on the prior earnings report which presented great figures and massive ecommerce growth. Hopefully the share price pump sticks this time and lets my recent put sale trade expire worthless.

Disclosure: I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article. The information provided should NOT be considered advice. The topics discussed are risky and have the potential to lose a substantial amount. I am not an investment professional and therefore do not offer individual financial advice. Please do your own research before investing.

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