ByteDance’s Valuation Drops 25% From Last Year to Under $300B

ByteDance has traded in recent weeks at valuations beneath $300 billion, a 25% drop since last year, showing the strain tech companies are under in China.

Bloomberg reported Wednesday (July 20) that investors are cashing out of the TikTok owner now that its IPO has been set aside.

Investors have been buying shares at valuations of around $275 billion now, according to sources speaking with Bloomberg. One buyer reportedly negotiated the seller down to $280 billion and then canceled the sale. Other investors have offered as low as $250 billion, according to the unnamed sources.

The decline occurred after Tiger Global Management bought additional shares in the firm last year with a valuation of $460 billion, according to an investor document cited by Bloomberg News.

As ByteDance’s value falls, Bloomberg wrote that it shows the decay of the sentiment for the Chinese tech giants and the worsening opinion of tech assets around the world. There’s also the issue of the domestic government crackdown there, which has had the effect of scaring off investors.

ByteDance has had to cut down on some of the riskier expansion projects as Beijing increases the scrutiny. For example, in June, the company had to shut down a game development studio, laying off 100 staffers and stepping away from aspirations to go toe-to-toe with Tencent, the report said.

PYMNTS wrote recently that TikTok, which ByteDance owns, has been trialing its new shopping feed.

See also: TikTok Trials eCommerce Offering

The company’s new feature is a “Shop” tab for users based in Indonesia, Vietnam, Singapore and the U.K. This comes as the Chinese version of the TikTok app, Douyin, has seen a large portion of its revenue from eCommerce that was put into streams.

Now TikTok will be doing the same thing with its own apps. Reports note that the goal is to help it compete better with Instagram and YouTube, helping creators monetize their offerings.