Yahoo Finance ByteDance’s Latest Employee Buyback Offer Higher at $160 a Share
(Bloomberg) -- ByteDance Ltd. has offered to buy back employees’ shares at a price 3% above a previous exercise, aiming to boost morale while conveying confidence about the social media leader’s prospects.
Most Read from Bloomberg
An Opioid-Like Drink Is Masquerading As a Wholesome Alcohol Alternative
Xi Jinping’s ‘Old Friends’ from Iowa Get a Dinner Invitation
The owner of TikTok and Douyin emailed staff Wednesday with an offer to buy back stock at $160 per share, up from $155 in the buyback program seven months earlier, according to a person familiar with the matter, who asked not to be named as the matter is private.
A ByteDance spokesperson confirmed the latest plan but didn’t provide specifics. The move was aimed at providing liquidity and to help motivate employees, the spokesperson said.
Once the darling of global investors, ByteDance is joining a growing list of Chinese internet companies searching for solutions to restore market confidence and retain talent. Since 2017, the company has held buyback programs twice per year to eligible current and former employees.
Its short-video platforms, TikTok globally and Douyin at home in China, have disrupted internet businesses and social media worldwide. Every major service, from Alphabet Inc.’s YouTube and Meta Platforms Inc.’s Instagram to Tencent Holdings Ltd.’s WeChat, has since introduced short-video services in the vein of TikTok as a response to ByteDance’s incursions.
The private firm grew into the world’s most valuable startup on the strength of its audience-grabbing video apps, but it has also been squeezed by Beijing’s crackdown on internet companies at home and Washington’s suspicion of its services in the US.
It’s unclear what valuation ByteDance would command currently. Startup price tags have fallen from their pandemic highs, but in 2022 the Chinese firm offered to buy back shares from investors at a valuation of about $300 billion.
ByteDance has considered taking TikTok public for years, a move that could both reward investors and ease some political pressure as the unit formally splits from its Chinese parent. ByteDance also contemplated a separate initial public offering for Douyin and its China businesses in Hong Kong. But both debuts have been delayed repeatedly by heightened regulatory scrutiny of large tech firms and a volatile market for tech stocks.
Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek
US Veterans Got a Mortgage Break. Now They’re Losing Their Homes
A German Startup Races Google to Develop a Universal Translator
©2023 Bloomberg L.P.
