ByteDance offering to buy back employees’ shares for $155 apiece

Bloomberg

ByteDance Ltd. is offering to buy back shares from its employees, ramping up efforts to boost staff morale after plans for an initial public offering stalled.
The Beijing-based company, parent of the hit TikTok video app, informed employees on Wednesday that it will repurchase shares at a price of $155 per restricted stock unit to help those who need to monetise their stocks sooner, according to an internal memo viewed by Bloomberg News. The program, beginning immediately, marks the company’s second round of employee share buybacks in 2022, exceeding previously offered prices, according to a
person familiar with the plan who asked not to be named discussing private matters. ByteDance didn’t respond to an inquiry for comment.
Last month, the Chinese social media titan offered to buy back as much as $3 billion of its own shares from investors at a valuation of about $300 billion, giving backers a way to cash out their investment from the decade-old startup. Once the darling of global investors, ByteDance is now joining a growing list of Chinese internet companies searching for the solutions to restore market confidence and retain talent.
ByteDance has grown into the world’s most valuable startup on the success of apps like TikTok and its Chinese twin Douyin, but in recent years it has been squeezed by Beijing’s crackdown on internet firms at home and Washington’s suspicion of its services in the US.
The company has considered taking TikTok public for years, a move that could both reward investors and ease some political pressure as the unit formally splits from its Chinese parent. ByteDance also contemplated a separate IPO for Douyin and its China businesses in Hong Kong. But both debuts have been delayed repeatedly by heightened regulatory scrutiny of Big Tech firms and a global tech selloff that’s suppressed valuations.
With no clear exit plan on the horizon, ByteDance’s valuation dropped to below $300 billion in private trading from a peak of more than $400 billion, Bloomberg News reported in July. The company told its 110,000 global employees in August that it will lower the price of its stock options by 20% as a gesture to retain workers and entice new ones.