TikTok owner ByteDance Inc is focused on hiring staff to beef up its international operations before considering an initial public offering in the United States or Hong Kong over the longer term, according to people familiar with the matter.
The world’s most valuable startup is still only at the very early stages of exploring a share sale abroad, the people said. Any float remains a long-term objective given ByteDance first needs to hire a chief financial officer and remains well-funded, the people said, asking not to be named because the matter is private. On Oct 29, the company publicly denied a Financial Times report that it planned a Hong Kong IPO in the first quarter.