Despite the tightening of Chinese regulators on information technology companies, TikTok’s parent company ByteDance is reportedly aiming to be listed on the Hong Kong stock market by early next year at the latest.
The Financial Times (FT) reported on the 8th (local time) that ByteDance is preparing for an IPO aimed at the fourth quarter of this year or early next year, citing three sources familiar with the issue.
Since its listing in the New York stock market was frustrated, ByteDance has been preparing for overseas listing in recent months by submitting details on customer information security and management to the authorities to address data security concerns from Chinese regulators.
“We are waiting for the final guidelines from Byte Dance to be delivered in September,” a source said. “Byte Dance is submitting all documents to the Chinese authorities and undergoing a review process.”
According to last year’s performance announced to the company in June, TikTok, which has 700 million users worldwide, recorded $34.3 billion in sales and $19 billion in gross profit.
ByteDance had previously planned to be listed on the U.S. and Hong Kong stock markets, but withheld the plan due to pressure from Chinese regulators on Chinese technology companies’ overseas listing. Didi Chuxing, also known as the “Chinese version of Uber,” was kicked out of the app market after pushing ahead with its listing on the New York Stock Exchange.
Byte Dance has shown interest in listing in New York since 2019, but it seems to have turned to listing in Hong Kong.
