ByteDance in Talks to Borrow Up to $5 Billion to Fund Overseas Expansion

TikTok owner ByteDance is in talks with banks to borrow up to $5 billion in a syndicated loan to refinance debt and pay for overseas expansion, people with knowledge of the matter said, as the path to an initial public offering appears unlikely this year.

ByteDance plans to use more than half of the money to refinance its existing debt to take advantage of current low interest rates, while spending the rest on its operations in the U.S., Europe, Latin America and other parts of the world, where it needs to keep spending on growing headcount, marketing and computing power, the people said. The company and the banks have discussed raising between $4 billion to $5 billion, but the exact size of the loan hasn’t yet been finalized as the debt financing talks are still ongoing, the people added.