TikTok IPO: How to Buy TikTok Stock in 2023?

You currently can’t buy TikTok stock, as TikTok’s parent company ByteDance is not publicly traded. However, there are still some ways in which you could partially get exposure to TikTok as an investment.

TikTok is an immensely popular social media platform where users can record and edit short videos and share it with a global audience. TikTok is owned by ByteDance, a company headquartered in China. TikTok made its debut in 2017, and currently serves around 1 billion monthly active users. Notably, TikTok has a “twin app” called Douyin, which is focused on the Chinese market.

Given TikTok’s huge success, it’s not surprising that many people are wondering how to buy TikTok stock or how to invest in TikTok. In this article, we’ll explain why it’s currently difficult for the average investor to invest in TikTok, since ByteDance is a privately owned company. Still, we’ll show you some methods of how you can get some indirect exposure to the success of TikTok. 

Who owns TikTok?

TikTok is owned by ByteDance, a China-based company with several products such as TikTok, Douyin, Mobile Legends, PICO, Lemon8, Baike.com and others.

ByteDance was founded by Zhang Yiming and Liang Rubo in March 2012. The company’s first product was Toutiao, a platform that provides news and informative content, using algorithmic models to tailor the displayed content on a user-by-user basis.

In March 2023, ByteDance was valued at $220 billion in a deal in which Abu Dhabi-based firm G42 purchased a stake in the company. However, ByteDance has reached even higher valuations in the past, as it was valued above $400 billion at its peak.

Can you buy TikTok stock?

No, you cannot buy TikTok stock because ByteDance is not a publicly traded company.

Still, there’s indirect ways of gaining exposure to TikTok. This is because certain companies that have a stake in TikTok are publicly traded. By buying stock in these companies, you could benefit from the success of TikTok, although the companies also have many other holdings which could impact their overall performance.

• KKR & Co Inc is a global investment company based in the United States. The company has invested in ByteDance on two occasions, in 2018 (at a $75 billion valuation for ByteDance) and in 2020 (at a $180 billion valuation for ByteDance). KKR & Co Inc is traded publicly on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker KKR. 
• SoftBank is a Japan-based investment holding company. SoftBank made an undisclosed investment in ByteDance through its SoftBank Vision Fund in 2018. SoftBank is publicly traded on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

Potentially, you could also invest in TikTok through platforms like EquityBee and EquityZen, where investors can purchase stock in certain privately-held companies. 

Is TikTok a good investment?

With 1 billion monthly active users, the potential upside of investing in TikTok is certainly significant. According to data from Business of Apps, TikTok’s annual revenue has grown from $63 million in 2017 to $9.4 billion in 2022. 

The TikTok app has seen 3.3 billion in cumulative downloads since its launch in 2017. It is currently the 5th-largest social media app following Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp and Instagram.

However, investors in TikTok are also facing significant risks, many of which are rooted in ByteDance being a Chinese company. 

TikTok is a controversial app, with several countries enacting or at least considering restricting or even banning the app. TikTok is banned outright in India, Iran, Pakistan and several other countries. Meanwhile, Belgium and Canada have banned TikTok from all work devices used by government workers.

The United States has also been considering banning TikTok and putting pressure on ByteDance. For example, former U.S. president Donald Trump signed an order in 2020 which stipulated that TikTok would be banned if ByteDance didn’t sell or spin off TikTok within a specified time period. The order was later revoked by Joe Biden. 

More than 30 U.S. states prohibit government workers and contractors from having the TikTok app installed on government-issued devices.

It’s also important to keep in mind that while TikTok’s success is very impressive, the competition is not sleeping. For example, online video giant YouTube has launched their YouTube Shorts platform, which has many parallels with TikTok. 

Will there be a TikTok IPO?

During the Trump administration, there were rumors that ByteDance was considering spinning off TikTok as a separate company and conducting a TikTok IPO. However, this plan has not materialized. In August 2022, ByteDance CFO Julie Gao told employees the company had no plans to go public.

At the moment, there is no reason to believe that ByteDance is planning to go the IPO route itself, or even conduct a separate TikTok IPO. However, this could obviously change in the future, as a ByteDance IPO would provide a clear path for investors in the company to realize some of their gains.

The bottom line — The average investor currently has no good way of investing in TikTok

While TikTok is potentially a very attractive investment, the average investor can’t access it at the moment because ByteDance is not a publicly traded company. In the future, we could see a ByteDance IPO, but there’s also a chance that ByteDance could spin off the platform, opening the doors for a TikTok IPO.

If you’re also interested in investing in other stocks, check out our article exploring the 10 best stocks to buy right now.

FAQs

How to buy TikTok stock?

The average investor currently can’t buy TikTok stock, because TikTok isn’t publicly traded, and neither is its parent company ByteDance. While there have been some rumors of a TikTok IPO in the past, ByteDance currently doesn’t appear to have plans to take the platform public.

What is the TikTok stock price?

The TikTok stock price is currently unknown, because TikTok and its parent company ByteDance aren’t publicly traded. In 2023, ByteDance reportedly gave its employees an option to buy their stock in the company at a price of $155 per share.

What is the TikTok stock ticker?

Currently, TikTok is not traded publicly, so it does not have a stock ticker.

Can you buy TikTok’s parent company stock?

TikTok’s parent company ByteDance is not publicly listed, so regular investors can’t buy its stock at the moment.