ByteDance Plans Share Buyback for TikTok Employees Later This Year

TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, plans a share buyback for U.S. employees later this year,  according to an email sent to current and former employees. The share sale could indicate that the company isn’t planning to go public anytime soon.

Word of the buyback came the same day that ByteDance told employees it was changing the terms of their restricted stock grants to drop the requirement that the company goes public before their stock grants vest, according to documentation of the changes sent to employees. The change could expose employees to tax bills, however. ByteDance noted in the documents that employees were liable to pay U.S. taxes on the value of the stock grants once they vest. The company said it would withhold shares from employees to cover taxes, or allow employees to pay in cash.