INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
ByteDance has responded to a report in the Financial Times that said the Chinese internet startup plans to go public in Hong Kong as early
as the first quarter of next year
TikTok.The Financial Times reported that ByteDance, which was founded in 2012 and is backed by investors including SoftBank, is preparing
for a public listing by retaining law firm K-L Gates and hiring a chief legal officer and former United States officials to help address
users to Chinese authorities.Speculation that ByteDance is gearing up for an IPO started last year when it closed a $3 billion funding round
the Chinese version of TikTok, news app Toutiao and TopBuzz, a news aggregation app for the United States market that the Financial Times
reports it is planning to sell as it prepares for an IPO.In September, Reuters reported that ByteDance had made between $7 billion and $8.4
billion in revenue for the first half of the year and had posted a profit in June.
