“Investors are happy about the deal’s terms as ByteDance can continue to reap earnings from TikTok in the US,” said one of the sources, who is directly involved in the matter.
ByteDance did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The US$500 billion figure would mark a record for the short video and artificial intelligence giant. ByteDance’s valuation previously approached US$400 billion in April 2021, when the company considered a public listing for Douyin, TikTok’s Chinese sibling app, according to a Post report. Weeks later, the company said it had no immediate plans to go public.
The valuation, which since then dropped, returned to US$400 billion in the second quarter this year as the company worked on the US deal and made progress in AI, the other source said. It rose further when a Chinese investment firm bought ByteDance shares at a valuation of US$480 billion, reflecting strong investor interest, Bloomberg reported in November.
