A Chinese investment firm bought a block of ByteDance Ltd. shares at a valuation of $480 billion, far above recent levels, a sign of strong investor interest in the parent company of video sensation TikTok, reports Bloomberg. In bidding that took place Wednesday, venture firm Capital Today won out over several other interested parties to acquire equity from Bank of China Group Investment Ltd., an early institutional investor in ByteDance, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be named discussing private information. The slug of stock had been priced at roughly $200 million with a $360 billion valuation for ByteDance, the people said.
Yet the price escalated rapidly with as many as seven bidders participating in the auction, the people said. Capital Today, led by prominent investor Kathy Xu, paid roughly $300 million for the stake at the valuation of almost a half trillion dollars, said the people.
The transaction is a sign of the enduring interest in the Beijing company founded in 2012 by Zhang Yiming that’s created several of China’s most popular digital services. TikTok has garnered about 170 million users in the US, but the Trump administration is negotiating a deal to shift majority ownership to American investors.