Bytedance plans IPO next year, report says

Beijing Bytedance Technology Co Ltd is considering an initial public offering next year, Financial Times reported Monday citing people familiar with the matter.

Bytedance, best known for its mobile news aggregator Jinri Toutiao, which translates into "Today's Headlines", and short video app Douyin, each of which boasted over 100 million daily active users, is one of China's hottest tech startups.

However, it remains unclear where Bytedance plans to list its shares, or how much it intends to raise.

The Wall Street Journal earlier reported Bytedance is considering a Hong Kong IPO this year that may value it over $45 million. 

Established in March, 2012, Bytedance has quickly grown into a media conglomerate that encompasses news aggregators products, such as TopBuzz and News Republic and short video products, including Tik Tok, Musical.ly, Vigo Viedo and BuzzVideo .

Bytedance purchased US video app Flipagram in February, 2017. Then, in November, it acquired News Republic, a news aggregator platform of Cheetah Mobile, for $86.6 million.

In February, it also purchased Faceu, a selfie app using augmented reality technologies. One month later, a subsidiary of Bytedance acquired a virtual reality startup Vscene to enrich its product offerings.

This year, globalization has become the key word for Bytedance. Zhang Yiming, founder and CEO of Bytedance, said in June that the company's globalization layout began in 2015 and its products have covered more than 150 countries and 75 languages.

By the end of last year, Bytedance's main overseas markets included Japan, South Korea, Brazil, the United States, Europe, Southeast Asia and India.

Bytedance announced late Wednesday that it is shuttering the popular Musical.ly video app it acquired for nearly $1 billion in November and will move users to a revamped version of its homegrown competitor Tik Tok.