Wall Street Banks Line Up to Lend to Bytedance, One of China’s Hottest Startups – WSJ (Paywall)
What happened: Bytedance is reportedly in talks to get a loan from banks that are hoping to win a role on its much-anticipated IPO including Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, UBS and Bank of America. People familiar with the matter said the Beijing-based startup is looking to borrow as much as $1.5 billion. The company initially planned to borrow $500 million but decided to bump up the deal size due to high interest from many banks. The deal could take place as soon as in the coming weeks.
Why it’s important: Bytedance is the owner of many massively popular apps in China, including news aggregator Jinri Toutiao and short video app Douyin (aka TikTok). The company was recently crowned as the world’s most valuable startup after raising capital from SoftBank and KKR at a reported $78 billion valuation. The six-year-old startup is planning a multi-billion dollar initial public offering in Hong Kong next year.