TikTok owner ByteDance is offering to buy back as much as $3 billion (€3 billion) of its own shares from investors at a valuation of about $300 billion, giving existing backers a way to cash out after plans for an initial public offering stalled.
The Beijing-based company, which has slowed its expansion plans for Dublin, informed shareholders of the plan Friday via email. The offered price per share of just under $177 gave the company an implied valuation of $300 billion, the company wrote in the memo. It also said that it was extending its existing stock incentive plan for another 10 years.
ByteDance has grown into the world’s most valuable start-up on the success of apps like TikTok and its Chinese counterpart Douyin, but it’s been squeezed between Beijing’s crackdown on internet firms at home and Washington’s suspicions of the services in the US. Just this week, TikTok chief operating Vanessa Pappas came under withering pressure to seal off US user data from Chinese review during Senate hearings.
TikTok has already been banned by the government of India, following a border dispute in 2020 that soured relations with China. That forced the service out of what had been its largest market by number of users, with 200 million regular viewers.
ByteDance has considered taking TikTok public for years, a move that could both reward investors and ease some political pressure as the company separates from its Chinese parent. It contemplated a separate IPO for Douyin and its China businesses in Hong Kong. But both debuts have been put off repeatedly as Beijing steps up scrutiny of internet giants and, more recently, a sharp decline in tech stocks.
ByteDance’s valuation soared to more than $400 billion in private trading, but that figure dropped to below $300 billion, Bloomberg News reported in July. The company told its 110,000 global employees last month that it will lower the price of its stock options by 20 per cent, as a compensation to retain workers during a broader wave of lay-offs across the Chinese internet sector.
While the current $300 billion offer is down from ByteDance’s peak valuation, it still holds out the promise of a remarkable return for early investors in the decade-old company, including Sequoia Capital and Susquehanna International Group. Beijing’s crackdown has hammered the value of tech companies in China, at one point wiping out more than $1 trillion of value from publicly traded giants such as Alibaba.
ByteDance’s founder Zhang Yiming stepped down as chairman and chief executive officer last year, one of several billionaires to move out of high-profile positions after the regulatory scrutiny.
During a virtual townhall in August, ByteDance management said the company has no current plan or timetable for a stock market debut, according to attendees. Executives also said the company needed to expand cautiously and focus resources on key growth engines including TikTok, ecommerce, and the Slack-style work app Lark.
Beijing’s hardline policies led ByteDance to shut down most of its online education operations and disband its venture investment arm over the past year. Meanwhile Washington’s renewed scrutiny over how TikTok safeguards American user data triggered a record $2 million in spending on lobbying by ByteDance during the second quarter. — Bloomberg
