Beijing (PingWest)- Walmart said Thursday that it is partnering with Microsoft to make a bid for the US operations of TikTok.

Explaining the rationale behind the decision making, Walmart told BBC that the TikTok deal would help it to expand its advertising business and grow its third-party marketplace.

Walmart’s announcement come a few days after a report suggest Microsoft is close to complete deal with TikTok,

ByteDance has been in talks to sell TikTok’s North American, Australian and New Zealand operations, which could be worth USD25 billion to USD30 billion to companies including Microsoft and Oracle, Reuter reported citing sources close to the matter.

In a statement, Walmart said TikTok’s integration of e-commerce and advertising is a clear benefit to creators and users in those market, “We believe a potential relationship with TikTok US in partnership with Microsoft could add this key functionality and provide Walmart with an important way for us to reach and serve omnichannel customers as well as grow our third-party marketplace and advertising businesses.”

The deal, if go through, would enable Walmart and Microsoft access to hundreds of millions of consumers who could buy their products or become a lucrative audience for advertising on TikTok . In a filing this week, TikTok said it has nearly 100 million monthly active U.S. users.

This is not the first time for Walmart to team up with Microsoft. Walmart had partnered with Microsoft to compete with Amazon a few years ago. Under a five year deal with Microsoft, Walmart used Microsoft’s Azure and Office 365 across its business

U.S. President Donald Trump has signed two executive order to force ByteDance to sell the U.S. operations of the video app to a U.S company within 90 days, otherwise TikTok will banned in the United State.

Earlier on Thursday, TikTok’s CEO Kevin Mayer resigned ahead of the ban due to ongoing political turmoil.

With its announcement, Walmart has jointed several other U.S companies trying to acquire TikTok.

Microsoft has emerged earlier as a lead contender to acquire TiTok in August. Later, Twitter had also approached ByteDance to talk the possibilities of acquiring U.S. operations of TikTok.

Following Microsoft and Twitter, the Financial Times recently reported that Oracle has joined the race to acquire TikTok.