After a special shareholder meeting, Chinese media firm ByteDance has cleared its board’s approval to buy back US$3 billion in shares from investors, South China Morning Post reported.
During the meeting – which was held in English without translators present – the TikTok parent firm’s decision was met with discontent from small shareholders, a source told the publication.
The company has made an offer of US$177 per share, though this amount is a quarter lower than its peak price last year. Regardless, this would give ByteDance a valuation of US$300 billion – above Alibaba’s.
ByteDance is China’s most valuable private company, and CFO Julie Gao announced that it still does not intend on going public.
TikTok has over 1 billion global users, and its Chinese sister app Douyin sees over 600 million daily active users, which the firms monetize through its advertising and ecommerce services.
Editing by Miguel Cordon and Lorenzo Kyle Subido
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