China Owns Stakes in ByteDance, Weibo Domestic Entities, Records Show

The Chinese authorities has taken stakes in Chinese entities owned by tech corporations ByteDance and Sina Weibo, company data confirmed, amid a widening regulatory crackdown on the business.

News of the stakes and the board seat was first reported by The Information on Monday.

WangTouZhongWen (Beijing) Technology, which is owned by three Chinese state entities together with a fund backed by China’s foremost Internet watchdog, has a 1 p.c stake in Beijing ByteDance Technology, in keeping with shareholder information from the National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System.

The stake provides Beijing a board seat on the subsidiary which holds among the enterprise licenses masking Douyin and Toutiao, a few of ByteDance’s hottest home apps, a supply accustomed to the matter mentioned.

It doesn’t give not give the Chinese authorities any stake within the agency’s hit quick video app TikTok, the supply mentioned. TikTok will not be obtainable in China.

The Chinese subsidiary “only relates to some of ByteDance’s China-market video and information platforms, and holds some of the licenses they require to operate under local law,” a ByteDance spokesperson advised Reuters on Monday.

An affiliate, WangTouTongDa (Beijing) Technology, equally holds a 1 p.c stake in Beijing Weimeng Technology, Weibo’s foremost home subsidiary, in keeping with a separate authorities information report and filings it made to the US securities regulator.

Weibo didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark. In the SEC submitting, it mentioned its unit acquired the funding from WangTouTongDa in April 2020 and that WangTouTongDa (Beijing) Technology had the suitable to nominate a director to Weiming’s three-member board.

Corporate info app Tianyancha mentioned the ByteDance unit stake switch was registered on April 30, 2021.

Although Chinese regulators have clamped down on a spread of sectors, tech has are available in for among the harshest measures up to now.

Regulators say they’re involved about points starting from its know-how giants’ market energy to their administration of consumer information, and have launched antitrust probes, cancelled offers and printed new steerage for the sector.

WangTouZhongWen (Beijing) Technology is co-owned by the China Internet Investment Fund, a China National Radio subsidiary and the Beijing Cultural Investment Development Group, its firm registration submitting confirmed.

The China Internet Investment Fund, which was established by the Cyberspace Administration of China and the nation’s finance ministry, absolutely owns WangTouTongDa (Beijing) Technology.

© Thomson Reuters 2021