TikTok owner ByteDance considers $100bn float
The parent company of viral video app TikTok is considering floating with a valuation as high as $100bn (£76bn), according to a new report.
ByteDance is looking to list its Chinese business in Hong Kong or Shanghai, with Hong Kong as the frontrunner, Reuters claims.
Plans to float ByteDance’s domestic business, which includes viral video app Douyin as well as news aggregation service Toutiao, come as TikTok faces growing political scrutiny in the US amid fears that user data will be used by Beijing for surveillance – allegations that TikTok has denied.
Donald Trump confirmed this week that TikTok is being investigated by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) for possible national security concerns.
“We are looking at TikTok,” Donald Trump said on Wednesday. “We are thinking about making a decision.”
His comments follow an earlier suggestion by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that the US could ban TikTok entirely.
ByteDance has reportedly held talks with existing investors such as US funds Sequoia and General Atlantic to explore the possibility of spinning off TikTok as a separate company which would be majority-owned by American investors, while ByteDance retains a minority stake in the new business.
Spinning off the Western viral video app could see the entity valued as highly as $50bn, it has been reported.
However, ByteDance may also decide to float its non-Chinese operations, including TikTok, in Europe or the US, Reuters reported.
Discussions about a potential float of ByteDance and TikTok began after the US government confucted its CFIUS review of the Musical.ly acquisition but before talks emerged about spinning out TikTok, Reuters reported.
ByteDance has also considered establishing a new international headquarters for TikTok outside of China. Leading contenders for a new office reportedly include London, the US, Ireland and Singapore.
The Telegraph reported earlier in July that TikTok had been seeking up to 30,000 sq ft of offices in London which could house up to 1,000 employees.
However, discussions over a larger TikTok presence in London have reportedly been affected by rising US tensions over the app and the UK’s recent ban on 5G equipment from Chinese telecoms business Huawei.
A TikTok spokesman declined to comment.
