ByteDance, which owns popular short-video platform TikTok, said Wednesday that it is downsizing its investment department, and will instead put more focus on business operations, according to a note the company sent to the Global Times.
“At the beginning of the year, the company carried out an analysis of the business, and decided to strengthen our focus on business, and reduce low synergy investment,” ByteDance said, adding that the employees of the strategic investment department will be dispersed into various business lines.
The company will strengthen cooperation between strategic research teams and business units. The business lines and teams involved are still in planning discussions, the company said.
The reply followed a report by Chinese tech news portal 36Kr on Wednesday claiming that ByteDance will disband its investment business, which included about 100 employees, with the financial investment unit completely cancelled, citing multiple sources familiar with the matter.
The move could be regarded as “a reaction of its executives to the regulatory policy that has just been issued,” the 36Kr report said, referring to the policy that “pre-approval is required for listing, investment and financing activities of internet-based platform companies with more than 100 million users or the previous year’s revenue surpassing 10 billion yuan ($1.6 billion).”
A slew of internet heavyweights including Alibaba, Tencent, JD.com and Meituan could all face similar regulatory oversight in handling their investments, the 36Kr report said.
An internet industry insider told the Global Times on Wednesday that the new regulation as cited by 36Kr could have already been issued to the platforms, but it was not yet published to the public.
China has been intensifying its regulatory campaign against monopolistic practices with major moves over the past year, including inaugurating the National Anti-monopoly Bureau and fining technology giants for violating the country’s antitrust regulations.
A view of ByteDance’s stand at the Digital China Summit 2021 Photo: cnsphoto
