President Donald Trump extended on Friday the deadline for Tiktok to be expelled or sold by his Chinese property parent company, Bytedance.
The measure occurs when Walmart is actively considering a group of investors to buy Tiktok, according to sources close to the agreement, which say that Walmart’s interest was caused by Amazon throwing his hat into the ring.
In 2020, Walmart said he was associating with Microsoft to make an offer for Tiktok. The application would give access to the retail giant to hundreds of millions of consumers who could become their clients and audiences for their ads, in an impulse to their electronic commerce business.
The Walmart logo is seen in a post outside a store in Mexico City, on June 14, 2024.
Henry Romero/Reuters
The Trump administration is considering an agreement to save Tiktok that would make China maintain control of the algorithm that will be leased to an American company, with a minority property participation, a source close to the agreement to ABC News said.
It is not clear if that proposal follows the bipartisan law that the Congress approved, which forces the Chinese parent company of Tiktok to sell the very popular social media platform or face a prohibition in the United States.
The sources say that there are several investors interested in jumping to buy Tiktok, including Amazon, Oracle and Applovin. A source close to the agreement also says that Tim Stokely, the founder of the Onlyfans Adult Website, has also made a late stage offer for Tiktok.
The White House and Walmart have not immediately responded to comments requests.
Tiktok application logo, August 22, 2022.
Given Ruvic/Reuters, file
Trump said Thursday hinted that his recently announced tariffs on China could be a negotiation tactic to achieve an agreement in a Tiktok sale.
“If someone said we will give you something that is so phenomenal, as long as they are giving us something, that is good,” he told journalists aboard Air Force One.
“We have a situation with Tiktok where China will probably say: ‘We will approve an agreement, but will you do something in the rate?'” He said. “Tariffs give us great power to negotiate.”
Even if Trump approves an agreement, China will still need to sign it. Relations between the United States and China are tense, with the United States about to hit China with huge 54% of a rate. China is now taking reprisals with its own 34% tariffs in imports from the United States
