TikTok considers listing China business in Hong Kong or Shanghai

Chinese tech giant ByteDance is considering listing its domestic business in Hong Kong or Shanghai.

Of the two venues, ByteDance prefers Hong Kong.

China accounts for around $16 billion of ByteDance's revenue in 2019.

A standalone listing could value the China business at over $100 billion in Hong Kong or in Shanghai.

ByteDance is also studying the option of listing its smaller, non-China business in the US and Europe.

Bytedance originally wanted to list as a combined entity, including TikTok and other operations, in New York or Hong Kong.

The idea of splitting the whole business into two public listings was due to concerns over US regulatory scrutiny and uncertainty over whether a 2013 audit deal between Beijing and Washington will remain intact.

US regulators have spoken about banning TikTok or requiring ByteDance to sell it, over suspicions that China could force its owner to turn over US user data.

The discussions about the two listings were initiated after the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) investigated TikTok's handling of user data last year.

ByteDance was valued at as much as $140 billion earlier this year.