TikTok owner ByteDance valued at $480B after bidding war

The Chinese technology company behind TikTok has been valued at $480 billion, lifting it into the ranks of the world’s most valuable start-ups, after a fierce bidding war drove up the price of a substantial equity stake sold by Beijing.

Capital Today, a Chinese investment firm led by Kathy Xu, bought the shares in ByteDance from Bank of China Group Investment for $300 million after an auction that drew interest from at least seven investors. The block had originally been priced at about $200 million based on a $360 billion valuation for ByteDance, according to sources quoted by Bloomberg.

The price is the strongest indication yet of the potential increase in value of ByteDance as talks continue to resolve a long-running dispute between the US and China.

• TikTok owner ByteDance will still make money from US operation

OpenAI, the Silicon Valley-based company behind ChatGPT, was last month valued at $500 billion based on an employee secondary share sale. Elon Musk’s satellite company SpaceX is worth in the region of $400 billion, based on estimates after a tender offer to staff in July.

ByteDance is said to have started a share buyback programme for employees in September at a valuation of about $330 billion. Several investors including SoftBank Group and Fidelity Investments have marked up their holdings in ByteDance to valuations of more than $400 billion, Bloomberg reported.

TikTok, the short-form video sharing app which was launched in 2016 by ByteDance, has grown into a global phenomenon and reports about 1.6 billion monthly users. Its growth has raised national security concerns around the world. This year the US Supreme Court threatened to force its Chinese owners to sell up or be shut down.

Under a deal negotiated by President Trump, the majority ownership of its American business will be transferred to a consortium of US investors and ByteDance will retain a licence fee on revenue generated from its algorithm in the US.

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The final structure is understood to be still under discussion but it is thought that it would leave ByteDance and its Chinese investors with less than 20 per cent of the company, while American companies take control of 65 per cent. JD Vance, the US vice-president, has said that the resulting US company would be worth $14 billion alone.

Meta fined in Spain over unfair competition

Meta, the owner of Facebook, has been ordered to pay €479 million to digital media companies by a court in Spain over unfair competition practices.

Madrid’s Commercial Court said that the compensation, to be paid to 87 digital publishers and news agencies, was linked to Meta’s use of personal data to target advertising on Facebook and Instagram.

It said Meta had obtained a “significant competitive advantage” in Spain’s online advertising market by unlawfully processing user data. Meta said it disagreed with the ruling and would lodge an appeal.

“This is a baseless claim that lacks any evidence of alleged harm and wilfully ignores how the online advertising industry works,” a Meta spokesman said.

The ruling is the latest in a series of fines Meta has faced in Europe. A similar claim is currently under review in France.