Banking & Finance Abu Dhabi’s AI firm buys stake in TikTok owner at $220bn valuation By Pramod Kumar March 15, 2023 REUTERS Pedestrians walk past an adverstiement for the mobile app of TikTok in Guangzhou city, south China, on June 16, 2019 Abu Dhabi-based artificial intelligence firm G42 has acquired an over $100 million stake in ByteDance, valuing the Chinese owner of TikTok at $220 billion, Bloomberg News reported, citing informed sources. G42, owned by Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, who is the UAE’s national security adviser, bought the stake from existing investors in recent months through its 42XFund. Another fund also purchased into ByteDance at $225 billion shortly after, the sources added. The current valuation is a substantial discount to the $300 billion that TikTok’s owner set during its recent share buyback program. However, ByteDance’s valuation in the G42 transaction doesn’t yet reflect the potential after-effects of the Silicon Valley Bank collapse, the report said. TikTok, short-form video app, is considering separating from its parent to help address US concerns about national security risks.
