From a ByteDance letter to shareholders it emerged that the company plans to buy back shares worth up to $6 billion, and it is valued at approximately $400 billion. This valuation is 20% higher than during the previous share buyback in November 2025.
Price per share and buyback terms
Under the new offer ByteDance is prepared to pay $241.35 per share; in the previous buyback in November 2025 the price was $200.41. The company has also proposed extending the deadline by which investors can demand the repurchase of their holdings to 11 December 2030.
The share buyback programme was launched in 2022 and allows investors to obtain liquidity without the company going public. In the letter ByteDance emphasised that no timetable for an IPO has been set, so the buyback remains an exit route for investors while preserving the company’s private status.
Deal on the American business and impact on valuation
The increase in the valuation followed the settlement regarding TikTok’s American business in January 2026. Under the agreements, an 80% stake in the US unit responsible for data security transferred to a joint venture with American owners, while ByteDance retained the app’s revenue-generating operations.
This deal removed one of the geopolitical risks and affected the likelihood of a listing; however, the timetable for any potential IPO remains undefined and a listing by ByteDance will require approval from Chinese authorities.
AI spending, profit and employee incentives
ByteDance is actively investing in developing its own artificial intelligence models and applications, increasing competition with Alibaba, Tencent, DeepSeek, Moonshot AI and Z.ai. In the first half of 2026 the company’s net profit fell by a single-digit percentage and stood at about $20 billion, partly due to higher spending on AI development and competition for specialists.
To retain staff, ByteDance plans to offer them a total of 300 million shares, the value of which will be tied to the performance of the company’s AI business. This is intended to provide an additional incentive for researchers and developers amid active poaching by competitors.
