ByteDance delays IPO plans, off-market gray market valuation approaches $1 trillion

According to Beating Monitoring, according to reports from foreign media, the board of directors of ByteDance reached a consensus in early May 2026 to postpone its initial public offering (IPO) plan. Founder Zhang Yiming believes the valuation still has room to rise, and taking the company public at this stage would cede too much benefit to late-stage risk investors.

At present, the trading valuation of ByteDance in the over-the-counter gray market has exceeded $600 billion. A senior technology investment banker at Bank of America said the company’s market value is expected to approach $1 trillion and set a new industry benchmark.

Policy and geopolitical risks have eased somewhat. In early 2026, Oracle reached an agreement with an investor consortium to jointly acquire 80% of TikTok’s U.S. entity, which has largely cleared the related regulatory pressure.

In the AI business, Doubao APP, the largest chat assistant by user scale in China, is adding paid tiers on top of its free service.