TikTok owner mulls Hong Kong IPO, once it can fly by hawkish regulators
China’s ByteDance, the owner of popular short video platform TikTok, has yet again tabled plans to list in Hong Kong once it has addressed Chinese regulators’ concerns, according to reports.
The news and entertainment group is eyeing the fourth quarter of this year or early 2022, the Financial Times reported, citing sources familiar with the matter.
“We are expecting final guidance from ByteDance in September. They are submitting all the filings with Chinese authorities right now and are going through the review process,” one source said.
However, a ByteDance spokesperson shot down the claims, telling City A.M.: “This report is not correct”, with no further explanation.
Beijing-based BytDance saw its revenues double last year amid the pandemic, which saw its famed app TikTok turn into a viral sensation.
Revenue grew 111 per cent to $34.3bn (£25bn) in 2020, while gross profit rose 93 per cent to $19bn.
Alongside Tiktok, the group owns Chinese equivalent Douyin and news aggregation app Jinri Toutiao.
The tech-driven group said in April that it had no imminent plans for an initial public offering (IPO) and is yet to publicly confirm the move.
Chinese regulators have stepped up their scrutiny of the tech sector in recent months – which saw China’s biggest IPO in history, from Jack Ma’s Ant Group, squashed.