SHANGHAI, Aug 16 (Reuters) – The Chinese government has taken a stake and a board seat in TikTok owner ByteDance’s key Chinese entity, Beijing ByteDance Technology, The Information reported on Monday, citing corporate records and people with knowledge of the matter.
Beijing ByteDance Technology sold a 1% stake in an April 30 deal to WangTouZhongWen (Beijing) Technology, which is owned by three state entities, the media outlet said, citing Tianyancha, an online database of China’s corporate records.
The deal also allowed the Chinese government to appoint a board director at Beijing ByteDance, it added, attributing it to two people with knowledge of the arrangement.
The deal does not give the Chinese government any stake in the firm’s hit short video app TikTok because of ByteDance’s complex corporate structure, The Information said.
ByteDance told Reuters the Chinese subsidiary referenced in the report only related to some of its China market video and information platforms, and held some of the licences they require to operate under local law.
Reporting by Yingzhi Yang and Brenda Goh; editing by David Evans and Jonathan Oatis
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