ByteDance's valuation hits $330B on share buyback plan

ByteDance, the Chinese internet giant behind the popular short-video app TikTok, is considering a huge stock buyback in a deal that would value the company at more than $330 billion. 

The deal underscores the company’s growing financial muscle and role in the social media space. As part of its buyback program, the tech firm will purchase employee shares at $200.41 each, up 5.5% from the $189.90 offered six months ago. The initial offer reflected a valuation of around $315 billion, signaling strong investor confidence in the company’s prospects. The program, set to launch this fall, aims to provide employees with greater liquidity while reinforcing ByteDance’s solid financial position.

The higher valuation comes during a surge in sales, with second-quarter revenue climbing 25% year-on-year to approximately $48 billion, according to sources familiar with the matter. Most of this growth is driven by ByteDance’s home market in China, which continues to be its largest revenue contributor.

The revenue surge shows ByteDance’s growing earnings from its international apps, including TikTok and other digital products. In the first quarter of 2025, ByteDance’s revenue exceeded $43 billion, surpassing Meta’s $42.3 billion and making it the world’s largest social media company by revenue. Analysts say this performance highlights the company’s ability to grow fast despite regulatory and policy obstacles in global markets.

ByteDance surpasses Meta in revenue growth

In the first quarter of 2025, ByteDance took in more than $43 billion in revenue, more than Meta’s $42.3 billion in the same quarter. With this milestone, it cemented its position as the world’s largest social media company in revenue.

The firm reported that momentum had remained strong through the second quarter, and that both ByteDance and Meta had reported that sales had risen by more than 20% driven by robust advertising demand across their platforms.

Unlike other late-stage private companies that rely on external financing for employee share buybacks, ByteDance had been funding them off its balance sheet. This approach mirrors the company’s financial footing and healthy profit margins, allowing workers to capture the gains without waiting for a public listing.

ByteDance faces U.S. regulatory pressure

Its surging sales notwithstanding, ByteDance has faced relentless political and regulatory pressure, especially in the United States. Lawmakers have hammered the company for years over national security worries about its Chinese owner and any potential risk tied to how and what information users have shared with the service.

There were also charges of political bias at play in the decision to sell the U.S. business to a domestic company. Still, whatever the reason, a U.S. law now requires ByteDance to divest the American portion of TikTok by September 17, 2025, in lieu of a nationwide ban of an application with upwards of 170 million U.S. users. The law aims to prevent the Chinese government from acquiring private American data, though ByteDance has dismissed that as a possibility.

Trump has already granted too many stay-of-divestment deadlines to count, and he recently suggested that American buyers are on standby, cash in hand, to buy TikTok. But the process remains messy, including discussions among ByteDance, prospective buyers, and U.S. regulators. Analysts warn that political and regulatory risks continue to hang over ByteDance’s overall valuation, far lower than that of publicly traded rivals like Meta, though ByteDance generates more revenue.

The situation highlights Chinese tech companies’ growing challenges when they go abroad, with revenue growth stifled by geopolitical conflict and government oversight.

In a separate move, a judge in New Hampshire declined TikTok’s request to throw out a state lawsuit accusing the platform of luring children with passive and addictive features.

New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella called the ruling “an important step” in “holding TikTok accountable for illegal practices putting children at risk. The state’s arguments had been “reasonably clear” and targeted exclusively the app’s design features, not user-generated content, said the judge, John Kissinger Jr., of Superior Court.

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