How Walmart accelerates transformation without Asda and thanks to TikTok
Doug McMillon, Walmart C.E.O.
If the restriction announcement made by President Trump is confirmed, the American computer and Cloud giant Oracle (turnover 2019 US$34.5 billion) and partner Walmart, leader in superstores and club warehouses (turnover 2020 US$524 billion) will take over the management of TikTok, the new star of social networks among young Americans. With 100 million users, Oracle will hold 12.5% of TikTok Global, a new entity based in the U.S.A. Walmart would hold 7.5%, for a total amount of €10.1 billion. Walmart C.E.O. Doug McMillon will be a Director of TikTok Global.
A few weeks before the Presidential elections, Trump continues to push to bring this brand, data and algorithms under American control. The business belongs to the Chinese ByteDance with a turnover US$20 billion in 2019. Barring a new twist, this case highlights the paradigm shift underway at Walmart. The world leader in retail is asserting itself as a connected rival to Amazon, adding new digital pieces (e-commerce site, marketplace, social media) to its traditional bricks-and-mortar mode with 11,500 stores.
