The departure of Kevin Mayer as CEO of the video service TikTok may mean that the US arm of the company will be sold in a few days.
The likely buyers are Microsoft and supermarket chain Walmart, and sources tell US news channel CNBC.
According to the insiders, Mayer was not involved in the talks with Microsoft and Walmart. The former CEO wanted to run TikTok as an independent company, not as part of a larger technology group.
It probably would be when Microsoft and Walmart acquired TikTok. Walmart would like to reach more customers with the help of the social media platform.
There has been a lot of activity around TikTok lately. The app is threatened with a ban in the United States. According to critics, TikTok collects too much data from its users, and it could just fall into the hands of the Chinese government, is the fear.
Bytedance, TikTok’s parent company, is Chinese. President Donald Trump has therefore ordered by decree that TikTok is banned in the US in mid-September unless the US branch is sold by then.
There are currently plenty of talks about the acquisition, reportedly also with software company Oracle. The American branch of TikTok should generate twenty to thirty billion dollars.