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ByteDance
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Exclusive | ByteDance IPO likely delayed to late 2022 and beyond amid regulatory uncertainties in China, sources say

  • The Chinese owner of TikTok faces roadblocks in its plan to go public as Beijing revises its data regulatory framework, sources told the Post
  • With the company’s IPO plan on the back-burner, some private investors have tried to divest their stakes

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The headquarters of ByteDance, the parent company of video sharing app TikTok, in Beijing. Photo: AFP
Coco FengandZhou Xin

ByteDance, owner of the popular short video app TikTok, may see its plan to go public postponed until late 2022, after regulatory hurdles in China are resolved, according to three people briefed on the matter.

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One source told the South China Morning Post that the start-up, the world’s largest unicorn with some private investors valuing it at US$400 billion, is unlikely to receive the go-ahead from Chinese authorities to float the company before the Communist Party’s 20th congress, which is expected to take place next autumn.

With government efforts to formulate new data regulations still under way, there is little possibility that the Beijing-based firm, founded by Chinese entrepreneur Zhang Yiming nearly a decade ago, could win quick approval for an initial public offering, a second source with close ties to ByteDance investors said.

In a major revision of its cybersecurity review rules proposed in July, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) is seeking to demand a review of any digital platform operators holding personal data from at least one million users ahead of overseas listings.

That came after the internet watchdog announced a cybersecurity probe into ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing, citing national security grounds. The result of that review has yet to be announced, and public canvassing for the updated IPO rule only concluded recently.

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It is yet unclear how future cybersecurity reviews would be implemented and whether they would apply to listings in Hong Kong, a city usually not considered a “foreign” market under Chinese regulations.

A third source told the Post that authorities advised ByteDance, which added a government delegate to the board of its main domestic subsidiary earlier this year, “not to rush” to go public.
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