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FT learns about plans of the owner of TikTok to hold an IPO despite the pressure from the PRC

ByteDance will conduct an IPO in Hong Kong in late 2021 or early next. The company had to postpone these plans due to calls from Chinese regulators to focus on data security.
China's ByteDance, which owns short video service TikTok, has decided to return to plans for an IPO (initial public offering), the Financial Times reported , citing sources familiar with the company's plans.

According to them, the company intends to list on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in the fourth quarter of 2021 or early next. “We are awaiting final guidance from ByteDance in September. Right now they are submitting all documents to the Chinese authorities and are going through the verification process, ”  said.

ByteDance declined to comment.

On July 12, The Wall Street Journal reported that the owner of TikTok was planning a listing in the United States or Hong Kong, but postponed the listing indefinitely. According to the publication, ByteDance made this decision back in March after a meeting of the company's management with representatives of Chinese regulators. In it, Chinese officials advised the company to focus on "addressing data security risks and other issues," the newspaper wrote. According to the newspaper, another reason for the postponement of the IPO was the absence of a CFO at ByteDance at the time.

On July 10, the Chinese authorities decided to tighten the rules for conducting IPOs overseas for technology companies that store data on more than 1 million users: they must now receive approval from the authorities for placement in other countries due to the risk that such data and personal information could be "touched, controlled and misused by foreign governments." Bloomberg noted that the decision will affect the plans of not only ByteDance, but also Lalamove, which deals with logistics and delivery.

In early July, Chinese regulators launched an investigation into the Didi taxi ordering service, which had recently gone public on the New York Stock Exchange. Didi raised more than $ 4 billion. The service conducted an IPO despite calls from Beijing to postpone the placement to focus on data security. During the investigation, the Chinese authorities banned the company from registering new users and ordered the Didi app to be removed from online stores.



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