HONG KONG — TikTok owner ByteDance is offering to buy back around US$5 billion (S$6.7 billion) worth of shares from investors at a price that will value the company at about US$268 billion, two people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday (Dec 6).

The Chinese technology giant is offering to buy the shares at US$160 each, the same price it offered employees last month.

One of the sources said the US$268 billion valuation was about 10 per cent lower than its value a year ago when it conducted a share buy back plan for investors.

The South China Morning Post first reported the news earlier on Wednesday. ByteDance did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The sources declined to be identified as they were not authorised to speak to the media.

ByteDance has been expanding into areas such as e-commerce but has started to retreat from a four-year foray into mainstream video games with a plan to wind down its Nuverse gaming brand, Reuters reported last month.

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Source: Reuters