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TikTok Opens A New Era For Retail

TikTok Opens A New Era For Retail

TikTok is no longer just entertainment—it’s a commerce powerhouse. From missed acquisitions by Walmart and Microsoft to ByteDance’s $300B empire, discover how TikTok is reshaping e-commerce, social networks, and the future of brand engagement.

August 5, 2022 3 min read Consumer Discretionary
#TikTok, ByteDance, Walmart, Microsoft, e-commerce
TikTok Opens A New Era For Retail

I made a name for myself in July 2019 when I recommended Walmart and Microsoft to team up and acquire TikTok. Most people assumed I was wrong when I suggested. Friends of mine reached out to me to say that I needed to stop making such predictions.

In August 2021, Walmart and Microsoft did team up, and they approached ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, about an acquisition. The fact Walmart and Microsoft didn’t make the acquisition will go down in business history as a massive, missed opportunity. Even worse than Blockbuster not acquiring Netflix when they were given a chance.

In 2020, I also recommended that ByteDance should acquire Shopify. The companies formed a partnership in 2021: bad idea, Shopify. They are teaching ByteDance how to copy everything they are doing. By 2024, ByteDance will be preferred by brands over Shopify for e-commerce. And then Shopify dies.

From 2021 to the present, growth at TikTok has exploded.

Zhang Yiming, the founder of ByteDance, has stated that blending entertainment and buying is the focus of his next breakthrough. ByteDance generated $58B in revenue in 2021. ByteDance is valued at over $300B.

Like Amazon, ByteDance is a “virtual company”, meaning it…

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