Many companies under bytecode beat changed their names to "Tiktok". On May 8, the surging news reporter found from the website of the Hong Kong company registry that byte beating (Hong Kong) Co., Ltd. had been renamed Tiktok group (Hong Kong) Co., Ltd., effective on May 6, 2022. According to the tianyancha app, byte beat Co., Ltd. was renamed as Tiktok Co., Ltd. According to the national enterprise credit information publicity system, Beijing byte Beating Technology Co., Ltd. was renamed as Beijing Tiktok Information Service Co., Ltd.
This has also triggered speculation that the company is preparing to go public. The surging news reporter learned from people familiar with the matter that byte may split the Tiktok sector for listing, including Tiktok, today's headlines, watermelon video, search, encyclopedia and many other important products of byte.
Previously, on November 2, 2021, liangrubo, CEO of bytecode beat, issued an e-mail to announce the organizational adjustment, implemented the BU business unit (business unit), and established six business segments: Tiktok, vigorously education, flying book, volcanic engine, Chaoxi Lightyear and tiktok. The heads of relevant business sectors report to Liang Rubo.
"The reason why Tiktok is merged with headline, watermelon, search and other products into the same business line is that its business overlaps, including video, graphics, information and so on. The merger is more conducive to the integrity of the industrial ecology after listing." A Tiktok insider told the surging news reporter.
Today's headlines are merged into the logic of Tiktok group
Surging news reporters learned that there are indeed plans to go to Hong Kong for listing this time. A major concern of the outside world is: Why did byte beat split the Tiktok plate to be listed?
"The fact that Tiktok leads the listing of domestic businesses due to byte beating is certainly out of consideration of globalization strategy; more importantly, it may also be related to Tiktok's more imaginative business." Ma Tianyi, chief analyst of Minsheng securities communications, told surging news reporters.
Ma Tianyi believes that although the advertising revenue of Tiktok has slowed down, it is still one of the top traffic platforms in China. "For the Internet industry, the most important capital is traffic and user attention. Tiktok, which has considerable advantages in both aspects, is undoubtedly the key for byte beating to attract investors in the capital market."
Another big concern is: Why are today's headlines, watermelon video and other important products of bytek incorporated into the Tiktok sector? It is worth noting that when liangrubo announced the organizational adjustment last year, he had incorporated today's headlines, watermelon video, search, encyclopedia and domestic vertical service business into Tiktok. The internal letter said that this sector would be responsible for the overall development of domestic information and service business.
The relevant person in charge of Tiktok told the surging news reporter that Tiktok, headlines, watermelon, search and encyclopedia are all information service businesses. At that time, one of the adjustment principles was that "closely coordinated businesses and teams were merged into business segments", which was to meet the challenges of complex business and larger team size.
Another insider admitted to the reporter that in view of the fact that Tiktok's daily life and profitability have exceeded the headlines, Tiktok must have a greater say and resource preference internally.
Pan Helin, CO director of digital economy and financial innovation research center of International United Business School of Zhejiang University, told surging reporters: "Within bytes, Tiktok is indeed the most important product. Through restructuring, Tiktok's brand identity can be more prominent. In the future, Tiktok's short video content business will be strengthened. In the future, other businesses will gradually be listed in batches through Tiktok's channels and loaded into Tiktok group, so as to achieve integrated development."
He believes that if headline products such as headlines and watermelons and Tiktok are listed separately, it is easy for them to compete with each other in the same industry. Therefore, it is more [ideal] for these businesses to be listed in Tiktok group as a whole( http://stock.finance.sina.com.cn/usstock/quotes/LI.html )。
"For example, the headlines have video content, while Tiktok is a short video. They all have the attribute of video content, so there is overlap in the business. Liangrubo loaded the products into Tiktok, in essence, to straighten out the company's business lines, to operate the relevant platforms in a unified way with Tiktok group as a whole, and to solve the problem of cross cutting among various internal businesses." Pan Helin said.
New CFO high access Bureau: led more than 100 Chinese enterprises to list overseas
It is worth noting that another important move to show the signal of listing in Hong Kong this time is the appointment of the new CFO high standard.
Prior to serving as CFO, Gao Zhun was a senior partner of Shida international law firm and a member of its global management agency policy committee. Statistics show that gaozhun has provided legal services for the listing of many companies and other capital market financing projects, including meituan and JD , pinduoduo , Xiaomi Wait. She also provides legal services for many M & A and private placement projects, including Baidu , byte runout, etc.
In 2003, gaozhun participated in Ctrip's IPO and provided it with listing legal advisory services. This is the first Chinese company IPO project she participated in. According to public data, since then, she has led her team to participate in the overseas listing of 123 Chinese companies. So far, nearly half of China's Internet and technology listed companies with the top 50 market values of us and Hong Kong stocks have been listed by her, covering almost all major companies in China's Internet industry in the past decade.
Gao Zhun's previous rich IPO resume will undoubtedly provide important help for the way of listing.
High accuracy
It is worth noting that the founder Zhang Yiming is not on the list of directors of the company in preparation for the listing. The reporter inquired about the online search center of the Hong Kong company and found that there are three directors under Tiktok group (Hong Kong) Co., Ltd., namely liangrubo, Mo Zhaoqi and Zhang Peng, CEO of byte beating.
According to the information of Hong Kong search center, Liang Rubo's appointment date is July 23, 2021, and he is registered with a Chinese passport. Mo Zhaoqi was appointed on May 6, 2022 and registered with a Hong Kong passport. The surging reporter learned that he was an employee of the legal team.
Zhang Peng's appointment date is May 6, 2022. He is registered with a Hong Kong passport and is suspected to be a person in the financial field. Tianyancha app shows that Zhang Peng is a shareholder of Tianjin Private Equity Fund Management Co., Ltd., with a shareholding ratio of 20%, and serves as its supervisor.
In terms of revenue, the revenue of byte beating still keeps growing, but the growth rate has slowed down. Previously, people familiar with the matter disclosed that the annual revenue of the company in 2021 was about US $58 billion, about 367.8 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 70%, and the growth rate was slower than that in 2020.
The most serious slowdown is the advertising business. In November last year, a person familiar with the matter said that byte beat had mentioned in an internal meeting that, except for Tiktok e-commerce, the advertising revenue of domestic businesses had stopped growing in the past six months.
While the revenue slows down, the loss still exists. According to internal documents, in 2020, the actual income of the company was 236.6 billion yuan, with a year-on-year increase of 111% and an operating loss of 14.7 billion yuan.
Cvsource investment data show that since its establishment in 2012, it has completed 10 rounds of financing, with a cumulative amount of more than $7 billion. According to the "2021 global Unicorn list" released by Hurun, the byte jump valuation has reached 2.25 trillion yuan, becoming the world's largest unicorn. "The valuation of Tiktok listing is estimated to be higher than that of Kwai, which is difficult to calculate, but it may not meet the expectations of the original investors." Pan Helin said.
Pan Helin believes that the current valuation of Hong Kong Internet stocks is low. For example, the market value of Kwai has dropped from trillions at the time of listing to HK $250billion, and is still near the most undervalued level. At this time, the premium obtained through valuation benchmarking may not be ideal when Tiktok is listed.
Ma Tianyi also expressed similar views. "As the mobile Internet dividend shrinks, it is difficult for Tiktok's traffic to grow indefinitely."
"For the byte beating at this stage, whether to go public or not is like a balance with abyss on both sides. On the one hand, there is the pressure of slowing revenue and dissatisfaction of shareholders; on the other hand, there is the reality that the post IPO valuation may not be ideal. Kwai is an example." Ma Tianyi said.