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ByteDance Ltd., the parent company of TikTok, reportedly halted its plans to go public and list offshore. The Dow Jones reported that the plan was indefinitely scrapped earlier this year after the firm was told to tackle data security risks.
The indefinite ditching of the goal for IPO
According to Bloomberg, ByteDance Ltd. founder Zhang Yiming made the decision to cancel the plans for an IPO in March after meeting with the Cyberspace Administration of China and the China Securities Regulatory Commission. It was said that the officials asked the company to address data security risks and other issues and to focus on this.
Another reason why the Chinese multinational internet technology company headquartered in Beijing postponed its listing was due to the fact that it did not have a chief financial officer when the meeting with the officials took place.
ByteDance subsequently hired Shou Zi Che, and CNBC mentioned that he was a former executive at Xiaomi, a Chinese smartphone company. Initially, the company has been mulling for all or some of its business to secure an initial public offering in the United States or Hong Kong, but with the latest development, it seems this will not be happening any time soon.
Then again, it was reported that ByteDance said in April that it has no immediate plans of going public. The company also refused to comment on its reported IPO cancellation after allegedly being told by the officials to focus on data security.
China’s crackdown on US-listed Chinese companies
The news of ByteDance’s IPO postponement comes after the Chinese regulators opened a cybersecurity review into some of the country’s companies, such as Didi, a ride-hailing service. This is the firm that is being checked by the officials after it is listed on the New York Stock Exchange in June. Apparently, China’s main concern is that through its homegrown firms, some Chinese data could be leaked to foreign entities via cyberspace.
The review was carried out amid the escalating regulatory scrutiny of Beijing on Chinese firms that are listing overseas, especially in the U.S. Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal stated that ByteDance Ltd. was last valued at $180 billion in December.
