ByteDance’s valuation is rising again, with General Atlantic planning to sell part of its stake. The deal values the company at about $550 billion, according to Reuters.
The proposed transaction marks a 66% jump compared to last year’s employee share buyback, which valued ByteDance at just over $330 billion. It is also roughly 15% higher than the secondary market deal in November, which priced the company at $480 billion, sources previously told Reuters.
If completed, this would be the first major share sale since ByteDance reached an agreement to make TikTok’s US operations majority US-owned, adds the report.
That deal followed regulatory pressure from the Trump administration, which had raised national security concerns and threatened to ban the app in the United States.
Sale of shares
General Atlantic, which first invested in ByteDance in 2017 when the company was valued at about $20 billion, began exploring the sale of some of its shares in recent weeks.
One source told Reuters the firm hopes to complete the transaction by March. Financial terms, the size of the stake being sold, and General Atlantic’s post-sale ownership have not been disclosed.
The report also suggests that ByteDance remains privately held; its valuation is not fully transparent. Secondary market trades, in which existing shareholders sell stakes to new investors, often serve as informal signals of market sentiment.
Internally, General Atlantic has reportedly valued its ByteDance stake at $550 billion, and it is reasonable for the firm to seek at least that level in the planned transaction, one source said. Some of General Atlantic’s funds are nearing the end of their usual 10- to 12-year investment period, when private equity firms typically return capital to investors. Bill Ford, the CEO of General Atlantic, is a member of ByteDance’s board.
ByteDance’s strong financial performance has boosted its valuation. Last year, news reports indicated that ByteDance’s quarterly revenue surpassed Meta’s, the owner of Facebook.
As a result, ByteDance has become the largest social media company in the world by sales, with an expected annual profit of about $48 billion in 2025. The company’s core products include news aggregator Toutiao and Douyin, TikTok’s Chinese counterpart. In 2025, ByteDance also emerged as a leading player in China’s consumer AI market with its chatbot Doubao, expanding its footprint beyond short-form video.
Other investors in ByteDance include KKR, Susquehanna International Group, and Primavera Capital Group.
Meanwhile, venture capital firm HSG, formerly Sequoia Capital China, is raising a continuation fund to transfer some of its ByteDance holdings at a valuation between $350 billion and $370 billion, Reuters reported last month.
