Walmart Joins Talks to Buy TikTok

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/27/technology/walmart-tiktok-deal.html

The retail giant said it was teaming up with Microsoft, which has been negotiating for weeks to buy the popular Chinese-owned video app.


By Mike Isaac

Aug. 27, 2020, 12:19 p.m. ET

SAN FRANCISCO — <snip>

In a statement, Walmart said, “We are confident that a Walmart and Microsoft partnership would meet both the expectations of U.S. TikTok users while satisfying the concerns of U.S. government regulators.”

<snip>

Prices for a potential deal have ranged from $20 billion to $50 billion, the people with knowledge of the talks have said. But talks are fluid and the situation has been shifting quickly.

Microsoft, with $137 billion in cash and a market value of more than $1.7 trillion, is far larger than other potential acquirers and has the deepest resources.

Dan Ives, an analyst at Wedbush Securities, said in a note to investors that the participation of Walmart was likely “the final piece of the puzzle that ultimately cements Microsoft successfully acquiring TikTok’s U.S. operations for likely $35 billion to $40 billion.”

<snip>

Michael Corkery contributed reporting.

Trump Accidentally Confirms Key Stormy Daniels Detail During Weird Rally Moment

The porn star says she was paid $130,000 before the 2016 election to keep quiet about their
alleged liaisons.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/donald-trump-stormy-daniels-sharks_n_5f3f4001c5b6305f32559c85

By Ed Mazza

<snip>

“He is obsessed with sharks,” Daniels said in an interview with In Touch magazine in 2011. “Terrified of sharks. He was like, ‘I donate to all these charities and I would never donate to any charity that helps sharks. I hope all the sharks die.’”

On Thursday, Trump made very similar comments while speaking to supporters in Pennsylvania as he went off on a tangent.

“I’m not a big fan of sharks,” he said. “I have people calling me up, ‘Sir, we have a fund to save the shark, it’s called Save The Shark.’ I say ’no thank you, I have other things I can contribute to.”

Daniels was paid $130,000 just before the 2016 election to keep her allegations of an affair quiet. Trump has denied the affair, which Daniels said took place in 2006 when Trump’s third wife, Melania Trump, was caring for the couple’s infant child.

‘He Stiffed Our Party’: Bloomberg Doubts Resurface Before D.N.C. Speech

Michael Bloomberg’s appearance on the final night of the Democratic convention has reignited questions about his pledge to throw his fortune behind the effort to defeat President Trump.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/20/us/politics/michael-bloomberg-dnc.html

By Rebecca R. Ruiz

Aug. 20, 2020
Updated 9:26 a.m. ET


<snip>

“He stiffed our party and all the monthly workers he promised to keep on through November,” Amy Siskind, a prominent progressive activist, wrote on Twitter. “Why is Bloomberg speaking?”

In March, Mr. Bloomberg made an enormous $18 million transfer to the Democratic Party and offered up the leases to 13 field offices for the party’s use. Within weeks of exiting the race, he put $4.5 million into three major progressive groups — Swing Left, Collective Future and Voto Latino.

But he has not given directly to Mr. Biden, whom he endorsed upon withdrawing from the race, and his termination of thousands of campaign workers who expected to be working through November in Mr. Biden’s name has inspired multiple lawsuits.

<snip>

In spite of his continued extensive philanthropy, his contributions have fallen short of what some in the party had thought he would spend — something Mr. Nutter likened to a message that had been garbled in a game of Telephone.

<snip>

if someone can find a Bannon perpwalk photo!