Just last year, the world’s most valuable startup, ByteDance Ltd, was being squeezed from all sides.
The Trump administration wanted the Chinese firm, which owns the ubiquitous TikTok video-sharing platform, to get rid of assets. Beijing was cracking down on tech businesses, and India blacklisted some of its social-media apps.
For all the obstacles, ByteDance kept growing. Now its founder, 38-year-old Zhang Yiming, is among the world’s richest people – a distinction that lately has carried increased risks in China.
Shares of the company trade in the private market at a valuation of more than US$250bil (RM1.03 trillion), people familiar with the dealings have said. At that level, Zhang, who owns about a quarter of ByteDance, could be worth more than US$60bil (RM247.77bil), placing him alongside Tencent Holdings Ltd’s Pony Ma, bottled-water king Zhong Shanshan and members of the Walton and Koch families in the US, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
(April 14): Just last year, the world’s most valuable startup, ByteDance Ltd, was being squeezed from all sides.
The Trump administration wanted the Chinese firm, which owns the ubiquitous TikTok video-sharing platform, to get rid of assets. Beijing was cracking down on tech businesses, and India blacklisted some of its social-media apps.
For all the obstacles, ByteDance kept growing. Now its founder, 38-year-old Zhang Yiming, is among the world’s richest people a distinction that lately has carried increased risks in China.
Shares of the company trade in the private market at a valuation of more than US$250 billion, people familiar with the dealings have said. At that level, Zhang, who owns about a quarter of ByteDance, could be worth more than US$60 billion, placing him alongside Tencent Holdings Ltd’s Pony Ma, bottled-water king Zhong Shanshan and members of the Walton and Koch families in the US, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
TikTok founder s $60 billion fortune places him among world s richest people bworldonline.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from bworldonline.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Tech firms pledge to comply with PRC antitrust law
‘SEVERE CONSEQUENCES’ POSSIBLE: Twelve firms followed a request by regulators to issue compliance statements and undergo what it called ‘complete rectification’
Bloomberg
Meituan (美團), ByteDance Ltd (字節跳動) and JD.com Inc (京東) were among 12 Chinese technology firms that issued pledges to obey antitrust laws yesterday, a day after Beijing gave the companies one month to conduct internal reviews and comply with Chinese government guidelines.
Pinduoduo Inc (拼多多), Baidu Inc (百度) and Sina Weibo (新浪微博) were also among firms that published their commitments in a statement on the Web site of the Chinese State Administration for Market Regulation.
Ant Group Co. Ltd. s financial services business, which contributes more than 60% of its revenue, will likely take a significant hit as cross-selling to payments users will no longer allowed under a restructuring plan pushed by the Chinese government on anti-monopoly grounds.
The restructuring plan, on which Chinese regulators have been working with the company since its mega IPO plan was abruptly halted in November 2020, also includes overhauling Ant s entire operation into a financial holding company and revamping its user data policy. The plan came days after parent company Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. was fined a record $2.8 billion, also on anticompetitive concerns.