Shadine Taufik · · 1 min readFirm of UAE’s ‘spy sheikh’ buys ByteDance stake at $220b valuation
Abu Dhabi AI firm Group 42 (G42) has acquired a US$100 million stake in ByteDance from existing investors through its 42XFund, Bloomberg reported, citing sources familiar with the matter.
The China-based tech giant was valued at US$220 billion following the deal – a dip from the US$300 billion valuation that its share buyback program was conducted at. Following the most recent deal, another undisclosed firm bought more shares in the parent firm of TikTok at a US$225 billion valuation, a source said
G42 is led by Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed, who is also known as “spy sheikh” and acts as the United Arab Emirates’ national security advisor. His fund has invested in innovations such as Chinese Covid-19 vaccines and autonomous vehicles. The firm recently appointed ex-JD.com executive Jason Hu to head its Shanghai office.
ByteDance has recently faced trouble in the US, one of its biggest markets. Lawmakers have pushed forth a bill that could ban TikTok from the country, cutting off over 113 million users. TikTok has considered splitting from ByteDance to alleviate national security issues.
Regardless, the short-video app has over a billion users, generating US$11 billion in revenue in 2022 and accumulating over 1 billion users worldwide.
Editing by Miguel Cordon and Arpit Nayak
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