ByteDance Ditches IPO Plans For The Time Being: SCMP

TikTok and Douyin parent, ByteDance, has dismissed its initial public offering (IPO) plans, for the time being, South China Morning Post reports.
ByteDance reached a $400 billion valuation in the private market, almost tripling its $140 billion valuation post a March 2020 fundraising. The company deferred its IPO plan partly due to difficulties in business restructuring under the Chinese and U.S. regulations.
TikTok position in the U.S. remained undecided after ByteDance ditched a deal to sell TikTok’s U.S. operations to an Oracle Corp ORCL-led group.
TikTok continues to face uncertainty under President Biden as he offers a second look at the security concerns raised by Chinese CFO apps operating in the U.S.
ByteDance was reportedly under initial discussions for a U.S. listing via Douyin shares.
Last week, Bloomberg reported the company’s IPO preparations of some of its main businesses, including Douyin, including its options between Hong Kong and the U.S.
Several sources reported the company’s preparations for a Hong Kong listing. However, the news was pulled subsequently.
Douyin reported 600 million daily active users as of August 2020. TikTok, along with 689 million global daily users, accounted for $1 billion to ByteDance’s 2020 revenue of $37 billion.
Chinese short video app, Kuaishou’s share price has nearly tripled on its first trading day in February. The company reached almost 1 trillion yuan in market cap as of Friday.
Last month, ByteDance hired former Xiaomi Corp XIACF XIACY executive Shou Zi Chew for a newly-created CFO role, insinuating towards the IPO.