ByteDance shelves IPO after regulators warn about data security: Report

TikTok owner ByteDance put on hold indefinitely its intentions to list offshore earlier this year after Chinese officials told the company to address data-security risks, Dow Jones reported.
 

Founder Zhang Yiming decided to shelve plans for a potential IPO in late March after meetings with cyberspace and securities regulators, where the company was asked to focus on addressing data-security risks and other issues, the news agency reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The firm also delayed the listing because it didn’t have a chief financial officer at the time, according to the report. The Cyberspace Administration of China and the China Securities Regulatory Commission didn’t respond to Dow Jones’s requests for comment.
 

Meanwhile, ByteDance is working to ensure it complies with data security requirements after meetings with government officials over the issue earlier this year, a person familiar with the matter said. The Chinese tech giant, whose apps also include TikTok’s Chinese twin Douyin and the news aggregator Toutiao, had kicked off initial preparations for an IPO of its domestic assets, Bloomberg News reported in April.