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TikTok owner ByteDance starts new round of employee stock buy-backs, bonus-for-shares exchange at higher rates
- Privately-held ByteDance’s latest stock repurchase drive offers US$142 per share, up 7.5 per cent from US$132 per share during its October 2021 buy-back
- The firm has also started offering its top-performing employees the option to exchange their annual bonuses for its stock at US$142 per share
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TikTok owner ByteDance, the world’s most valuable unicorn, has started a new round of employee stock buy-backs that offer a higher rate than last year’s repurchase programme, according to four current and former company personnel with knowledge of the matter.
The privately-held company’s latest stock repurchase drive offers US$142 per share, up 7.5 per cent from US$132 per share during its October 2021 buy-back, the people said. They indicated that these two rounds did not cover former personnel, who can cash out through private trades or wait until the firm goes public to do so.
ByteDance has also started offering its top-performing employees the option to exchange their annual bonuses for its stock at a similar rate of US$142 per share, according to the people. In April last year, employees were given the option to exchange their bonuses for ByteDance stock at US$126 per share.
Beijing-based ByteDance, which also operates Chinese short video app Douyin and news aggregator Jinri Toutiao, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday.
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Current employees familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said they are reluctant to avail of the option to exchange their annual bonuses for ByteDance stock because of the uncertainty caused by the government’s continued crackdown on Big Tech companies, which has decreased the firm’s valuation. A calculation of the offer valued ByteDance at US$213 billion, although such deals do not accurately reflect the valuation in the private equity market.
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