Returning to his senior year of high school, he went all in and made billions by buying at the botto

noon.

The second vote begins.

Douyin's shareholders and ByteDance's major shareholders have respectively approved the formal merger plan.

The previously suspended signing process has been restarted.

Both lawyers brought the printed agreement back into the meeting room.

Chen Mo, Lin Wan, Chen Liping, Zhang Ming, and representatives of the major shareholders took turns writing.

The "Agreement on the Absorption and Merger of ByteDance's Core Assets by Douyin Group" has been officially signed.

Two o'clock in the afternoon.

Douyin Group issued three announcements in succession.

The first announcement confirmed that Douyin and ByteDance have signed a formal merger agreement.

The teams responsible for Toutiao, recommendation algorithms, GG systems, data infrastructure, and core engineering will join Uni-President Group after the transaction.

Zhang Ming has been appointed as co-chairman of the group and head of the global technology committee.

Chen Liping will continue to serve as Chairman and CEO of the Group.

Zhang Nan serves as the group's president, responsible for core products and global business preparation.

The second announcement stated that Douyin will initiate an independent restructuring of its overseas business.

The new platform is tentatively named TKTOK Global Holdings.

The company plans to adopt a global structure consisting of Cayman Holdings, Singapore headquarters, and local operating entities.

Douyin Group plans to hold 40% of the shares.

Genesis Capital plans to subscribe for 20% in cash and will be responsible for introducing the remaining international strategic capital.

All transactions are still subject to independent valuation, approval from non-related shareholders, and regulatory review in the relevant regions.

The third announcement addresses the data controversy in Southeast Asia.

Douyin has promised to disable unnecessary permissions, rewrite its user authorization terms, and accept third-party data security audits.

Local data nodes in the three countries will be put into construction gradually over the next six months.

The company will not delete any logs or rewrite historical records under the pretext of technical upgrades until the official investigation results are released.

The three announcements spread almost simultaneously across the domestic and international internet and capital markets.

Domestic media first noticed the $67 billion reference value of the merger between Douyin and ByteDance.

Overseas capital has turned its attention to the 40% stake released by TKTOK.

Ten minutes after the announcement was released.

Lu Jingyi called into the conference room.

Grant Bank wants to subscribe for five percent.

Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch also sent formal meeting requests.

Her voice carried a slight hint of amusement.

"Six other European family offices involved in Genesis 2 are asking themselves if they belong to the 'friendly capital' you mentioned."

Chen Mo stated directly: "Tell them that if they want shares, they can negotiate based on the same valuation. We will not accept valuation discounts, nor will we include user data rights, nor will we sign any special agreements targeting any specific country."

"So tough?"

"Forty percent is a lot."

Chen Mo looked at the media reports that were still refreshing on the screen.

"But when it's actually distributed to each household, it's probably far from enough."

Lu Jingyi chuckled softly.

"Understood."

After the phone call ended, the representatives of several overseas organizations in the conference room had different expressions.

They knew very well that Chen Mo's judgment was not an exaggeration.

When Douyin completed its Series B funding round, its valuation of $40 billion set a global record for internet funding.

The 10% of shares released at that time never actually left the meeting room.

The original shareholders, Penguin, and two overseas growth funds almost completely divided the quota.

Douyin now has over 300 million monthly active users in China.

ByteDance's Toutiao, recommendation algorithms, and GG system will be fully integrated.

Even after divesting its overseas business, New Douyin Group remains a super unicorn with a reference value of $67 billion.

TikTok, on the other hand, took away the proven overseas products, 50 million registered users, 20 million daily active users, the complete recommendation framework, and exclusive global authorization.

It doesn't need to prove its business model from scratch like a typical startup.

There is only one problem facing investors.

How quickly will this company be able to expand from Southeast Asia into Europe and North America?

……

For the next week, the phone rang almost non-stop in Hong Kong, Singapore, New York, and London.

Creation opened encrypted data rooms simultaneously in Hong Kong and New York.

Institutions entering the first round of the list are required to submit a statement explaining the ultimate beneficiary, related relationships, source of funds, and potential conflicts of interest.

Only after approval can you see TKTOK's user growth, retention, bandwidth costs, GG testing, and international expansion plans.

Many funds that originally thought they could get quotas just by virtue of their reputation did not even pass the first round of screening.

By the end of the first day, Chuangsheng had received over 150% of the subscription intentions.

On the third day, the cumulative demand exceeded five times the number of shares to be released.

On the fifth day, Lu Jingyi had to notify her team to suspend accepting new applications from ordinary financial investors.

Grant Bank was the first institution to submit a formal term sheet.

The two parties began their cooperation with the Swiss franc transaction and then went through the Genesis I, Genesis II and European resource layout together.

Arthur only wants to reach the five percent shareholding limit for a single institution.

Furthermore, Grant is willing to assist TKTOK in establishing a European clearing, insurance, data compliance, and government communication system.

Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch applied for 4% and 3% respectively.

Both institutions are willing to open up their North American technology, Google, and capital market resources, and have included future IPOs in their long-term cooperation proposals.

However, according to Chen Mo's thinking, there shouldn't be too much American capital.

Furthermore, we cannot allow several Wall Street institutions to control the voting rights in the same direction for Tktok before it even enters the United States.

He personally contacted Transatlantic Investment.

This growth-oriented investment firm has a long-standing focus on the internet, software, and consumer technology sectors, and possesses a broad network of business and policy research in New York and Washington, D.C.

It has a better understanding of the U.S. censorship system, media environment, and listing paths for technology companies than ordinary funds.

General Atlantic quickly sent a team of partners into the data room and submitted a subscription application for 5%.

In Asia, Chen Mo and Lu Jingyi simultaneously contacted the Singapore Government Investment Corporation.

GIC's focus is on the size of its Singapore headquarters staff, the location of its Asia-Pacific data center, local taxation, board governance, and regional talent programs.

After two rounds of video conferences, GIC also agreed to subscribe for 5%.

This investment can at least temporarily resolve some of the regulatory issues for TKTOK in Thailand, Vietnam, and Indonesia.

Creation has also selected a joint investment platform from Southeast Asian telecommunications, media and cultural industry capital.

The joint platform holds a 5% stake, funded by partner organizations in different regions. No single party can unilaterally access data or interfere with the content.

The two European family investment platforms together received eight percent.

A Canadian long-term pension fund management organization received five percent.

None of the institutions that ultimately made it onto the shareholder list exceeded the pre-determined shareholding limit.

Capital from the same country did not exceed 15 percent in total.

……

On the night of the seventh day.

Three independent assessment agencies subsequently submitted their final opinions.

Taking into account the existing user base, algorithm licensing, regulatory risks in Southeast Asia, and future global expansion investments, TKTOK's pre-investment asset value was determined to be US$4 billion.

Creation and International Strategic Capital have invested a total of six billion US dollars in cash.

After the transaction was completed, TKTOK's post-investment valuation reached $10 billion.

The final shareholding structure was then determined.

Douyin Group acquired a 40% stake by contributing its overseas business, brand, team, contracts, and long-term algorithm licensing.

Genesis Capital's Singapore subsidiary invested US$2 billion to acquire a 20% stake in Class B shares.

Grant Bank holds five percent of the shares.

General Atlantic holds a 5% stake.

GIC holds a 5% stake.

Goldman Sachs holds four percent of the shares.

Merrill Lynch holds a 3% stake.

The two European family investment platforms hold a combined 8% stake.

The Long Term Pension Plan (LTCP) of Canada holds a 5% stake.

The Southeast Asian Telecom and Media Joint Investment Platform holds a 5% stake.

Through Chuangsheng and Douyin, Chen Mo controlled five of the nine nomination seats on the board of directors, thus gaining actual control of TKTOK.

American capital occupies two seats, European capital one seat, and Southeast Asian capital one seat.

The initial funding will be used for the Singapore headquarters, data nodes in various locations, content review, music copyright, and product testing in Europe and North America.

The remaining funds will be unlocked in batches according to regional expansion and compliance milestones.

This arrangement prevents the team from blindly expanding in order to spend money, and also gives external shareholders a channel to continuously monitor the use of funds.

At the same time, the first phase of the merger between Douyin and ByteDance was completed.

The new group is estimated to be worth US$67 billion.

Xingchen Technology holds a 44.1% economic interest and continues to maintain absolute control through its Class B shares.

The original shareholders of ByteDance hold a total of 35%.

Series A institutional investors hold approximately 11.8% of the shares.

Chen Liping personally holds approximately 3.7%.

Penguin holds approximately 2.7%, and two overseas growth funds together hold approximately 2.7%.

A small difference will be adjusted uniformly in the final settlement statement.

Zhang Ming and the original ByteDance team officially joined Douyin Group.

Today's Headlines, recommendation algorithms, Google, and data infrastructure have begun organizational migration.

The planned Series C funding round was not cancelled.

Douyin Group will restart its financing process after the integration is completed.

TKTOK, on ​​the other hand, has its own independent financing, stock options, and future IPO path.

With its Cayman holding company, Singapore headquarters, multinational shareholders, and independent data governance, it has a complete interface for its future listing on the New York Stock Exchange.

Chen Mo did not include listing on the US stock market in this round of commitments.

That ticket has already been put into TKTOK's hands.

When to use it depends on whether it can truly win over European and American users.

The situation in Southeast Asia also took a turn this week.

The third-party audit found no evidence that Douyin sold user data or transferred sensitive information to the domestic market without authorization.

The issues of excessive platform access permissions and unclear authorization instructions have been confirmed.

Douyin proactively closed the relevant permissions and disclosed the progress of the rectification to the regulatory agencies in the three regions.

Vietnam and Thailand have temporarily ceased discussions regarding travel restrictions.

Indonesia agreed to wait for a specific plan from its local data nodes and content moderation team, and did not immediately initiate the blocking process.

The most dangerous first wave of impact has passed.

Just a week ago, some people thought that the Southeast Asian boycott would be Douyin's first major setback in its globalization efforts.

A week later, Douyin completed its merger with ByteDance, and TKTOK became an independent entity with a valuation of tens of billions of US dollars, plus an additional six billion US dollars in global expansion funds.

The capital market has once again come to recognize Chen Mo.

He used this storm to build a giant ship that was more suitable for sailing to the world.