Megadeal May Make Chinese Internet Company the World’s Biggest Startup – Bloomberg
What happened: Bytedance is in talks with Japanese conglomerate Softbank Group, New York-based KKR & Co., and private equity firm General Atlantic to raise at least $3 billion at a valuation of $75 billion. SoftBank is said to be playing a bigger role in the funding round, targeting a massive $1.5 billion investment in Bytedance.
Why it’s important: Bytedance, the parent company of Tik Tok and Toutiao, was hit hard by the government’s crackdown on vulgar content earlier this year. Rumors were rife that the company was seeking to raise funds from the public markets after the crackdown. According to CB Insights, if completed, the latest funding round would make Bytedance more valuable than Uber, which is currently valued at $72 billion, and become the world’s biggest startup.