TikTok owner ByteDance has no public-company plans for now - report
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Despite a premium valuation, TikTok owner ByteDance (BDNCE) has no plans to go public, according to a South China Morning Post report.
Company Chief Financial Officer Julie Gao told an employee meeting that the company is staying a private entity for the time being, according to the report.
That's despite one of the world's biggest private valuations: ByteDance was likely worth $400B at its peak, and likely closer to $300B now amid a macro growth pullback.
Its TikTok short-video social app grew exponentially, sending ripples through plans of its rivals, the biggest social-media names in the world: Meta Platforms (META), YouTube (GOOG) (GOOGL), Twitter (TWTR), Snap (SNAP), and Pinterest (PINS).
In lieu of going public, which would produce a windfall for its stock- and options-owning employees, ByteDance has offered workers the chance to cash out options through twice-a-year buybacks since 2017.
The company will be offering more options at $155 per share - about a 20% discount to last year's offering of options at $195 per share. It's also reportedly prepping to offer unvested options priced over $155 per share to about 30,000 employees (a little over a quarter of its workforce).
Gao also reportedly said that ByteDance will reduce input into noncore businesses after some of them failed to meet expectations.
ByteDance is among the companies that would face new hurdles in product design if a California bill protecting the health of minors becomes law.