By XIAO Fang

Bytedance, the parent company of Tik Tok, is set to repurchase options worth US$5 billion (36 billion yuan) from investors, with IPO plans still in the balance, as reported by the South China Morning Post on Wednesday.

According to the Post, the current buyback price is US$160 per share, matching Bytedance’s employee stock option repurchase in October. This corresponds to a valuation of around US$270 billion, a 10-percent decrease from the US$300 billion valuation during the shareholder repurchase in September 2022.

Bytedance’s valuation reached its peak of US$400 billion in 2021 and has been on the slide since.

Bytedance is contracting, with VR business Pico losing most of its staff, and game brand Nuverse set to close. There are also reports suggesting Bytedance is considering the sale of Moonton Technology.

As China’s biggest unlisted internet company, Bytedance is often compared to Tencent. However, Tencent’s value remains stable at around US$400 billion, while Bytedance’s valuation is now only about two-thirds of Tencent’s, with the gap continuing to widen.