(Bloomberg) — ByteDance Ltd.’s valuation has risen at least a third to more than $100 billion in recent private share transactions, people familiar with the matter said, reflecting expectations the owner of video phenom TikTok will keep pulling in advertisers despite the Covid-19 pandemic.Stock in the world’s most valuable startup has changed hands recently at a price that suggests its value has risen more than 33% from about $75 billion during a major round of funding two years ago, the people said, requesting not to be named because the issue isn’t public. Some of those transactions valued the Chinese company at as much as $140 billion, one person said. The trades are private transactions and may not fully reflect broader investor expectations.ByteDance has grown into a potent online force in recent years, propelled in part by a TikTok short video platform that’s taken U.S. teenagers by storm. Investors are keen to grab a slice of a company that draws some 1.5 billion monthly active users to a family of apps that includes Douyin, TikTok’s Chinese twin, as well as news service Toutiao. That’s despite American lawmakers raising privacy and censorship concerns about its operation. This week, it poached Walt Disney Co. streaming czar Kevin Mayer to become chief executive officer of TikTok.The company was in the very early stages of exploring a share sale abroad last year, people familiar have said. But any float remains a longer-term objective given ByteDance remains well-funded, the people added. ByteDance declined to comment on Wednesday. Its backers include SoftBank Group Corp., General Atlantic and Sequoia.Its most recent market valuation puts the Chinese startup in the ballpark of industry stalwarts such as HSBC Holdings Plc or International Business Machines Corp. ByteDance — whose TikTok remains the venue of choice for half a billion lip-syncing, dancing music video aficionados — is now going head-to-head with Chinese internet leaders from Tencent Holdings Ltd. to Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. for user traffic and marketing dollars.It’s also strengthening its operations in newer arenas such as e-commerce and gaming. ByteDance this year kicked off a wave of hiring it envisions hitting 40,000 new jobs in 2020, hoping to match Alibaba’s headcount at a time technology corporations across the globe are furloughing or reducing staff.Longer term, the company will have to grapple with rising scrutiny from Washington. Two prominent senators have urged investigations into TikTok, labeling it a national security threat.Read more: ByteDance Launches Global Hiring Spree With 10,000 New Jobs(Updates with ByteDance’s major backers in the fourth paragraph. An earlier version of the story was corrected to reflect executive’s proper title.)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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High-tech stalwart Cisco Systems (CSCO) was one of the first major companies to report results for the fiscal quarter that ended in April. The results posted Wednesday afternoon are more reflective of the impact of Covid-19 than those in other recent earnings calls which only reflected results through March. And the results were grim: Cisco’s revenue for its fiscal third quarter fell 8% year-over-year to about $12 billion, its worst decline in six years. And yet, its per-share adjusted earnings of 79 cents on revenue of $11.98B easily beat analysts’ bleak target of 71 cents. The service and security segments managed modest revenue growth in the quarter. And of course, usage of WebEx videoconferencing, one of Zoom’s (ZM) primary competitors, grew strongly. Cisco’s shares rose 2% following the results.Cisco entered the pandemic from a position of relative weakness. The company has been citing a “broad based slowdown” affecting results for the last couple of quarters, and the pandemic has worsened conditions considerably for corporate tech. Market research firm Gartner revised its global IT spending forecast for the full year, projecting negative 8% growth, against a pre-Coronavirus forecast that called for a 3.4% rise.Cisco said it’s expecting 72 cents to 74 cents in adjusted earnings per share and a 8.5% to 11.5% decline in revenue for the fiscal fourth quarter. In contrast to Cisco, most companies have declined to issue new guidance, with the exception of businesses that have benefited from the pandemic or subscription-based software companies that already have booked their annual revenue. Analysts are moderately bullish on Cisco, with 12 Buys and 10 Hold recommendations within the last 3 months. The average analyst price target for Cisco is $47, representing upside of 4.5%. (See Cisco stock analysis on TipRanks). Related News: Microsoft Buys Softomotive to Boost Its Robotic Automation Offerings Roku Under Unvestigation By ITC for Universal Electronics Patent Infringement IQIYI Sinks 4% As Online Ad-Revenue Falls Sharply More recent articles from Smarter Analyst: * Roku Under Investigation By ITC For Universal Electronics Patent Infringement * Microsoft Buys Softomotive To Boost Its Robotic Automation Offerings * Spotify Surges 8.4%, Joe Rogan Brings More Than Experience Says Top Analyst * Microsoft Launches Cloud-Based Platform For Healthcare Organizations