ByteDance employees in its Seed large-model division can choose to receive year-end bonuses in the form of so-called "Doubao shares," according to a person familiar with the matter cited by National Business Daily.

The clarification came after market speculation that ByteDance had opened subscriptions this month for low-priced stock options linked specifically to the Seed unit at US$13 per share.

According to the source, there is no formal "subscription" mechanism, and eligible employees instead have the option of receiving bonuses tied to the AI business unit.

Seed, established in 2023, is ByteDance's core large-model research team and currently leads development of the company's Doubao foundation model. Its research areas include multimodal models and embodied AI.