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- Bytedance is reportedly planning to go public before China tells it to focus on its data security risks.
- TikTok’s parent company then reportedly suspended its listing plans as China continues its crackdown on Big Tech.
- The announced decision could save Bytedance and its CEO from the tribulations that Jack Ma and his group Ant have recently experienced.
- See more stories on the Insider business page.
TikTok’s parent company planned to go public with parts of its operations, the Wall Street Journal reports, but those efforts halted after Chinese regulators advised the company to focus on potential data security risks.
A representative for Bytedance told Insider it is not commenting on the speculation and pointed out to Insider comments the company made in April denying rumors that it planned to publicly list its shares.
This lack of public offering efforts could help save the company from the wrath of Chinese officials who currently appear determined to crack down on Big Tech. At least if Jack Ma pulled Ant Group IPO last year is any indication.
China had just launched a more aggressive affront to Big Tech when Ma’s October listing plans were caught in the thick of it. It didn’t help that Ma very publicly mocked the way China regulates the financial sector.
What followed was a very public crackdown on Ma when the government pulled her IPO before it could even take off.
Ma has disappeared from public view so completely that some media have reported that he may be missing, as other Chinese businessmen have done in the past after disagreeing with lawmakers. But an Alibaba executive told CNBC in June that Ma was just “down right now.”
The nation has only tightened its grip on local tech giants since focusing on Ma and Ant. He fined Alibaba, founded by Ma, $ 2.8 billion in April for fear of abusing its monopoly power in the online marketplace.
Overall, China appears to be sending a very strong message to tech companies within its borders, a message that Bytedance may have taken seriously.
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