CX Daily: ByteDance Holds Firm Against Selling TikTok Despite U.S. Ban Threat
TOP STORIES
TikTok?/
TikTok’s parent ByteDance Ltd. doesn’t plan to sell the unit although the U.S. Congress has threatened to ban the popular short-video platform unless it’s divested from its Chinese owner.
Zhang Yiming, the founder and a major shareholder of Beijing-based ByteDance, steadfastly opposes a sale, several people close to the company told Caixin.
Corruption?/
The former head of the Chinese Football Association (CFA) has been sentenced to life in prison for taking millions of dollars in bribes, making him one of the most senior soccer officials punished in China’s sweeping crackdown on corruption in the sport.
Chen Xuyuan, 67, was found guilty of accepting more than 81 million yuan ($11.2 million) in bribes from 2010 to 2023, during which he took advantage of his positions, including as the CFA president, to do favors for others that compromised the integrity of the sport, according to a statement from a court in Huangshi, Central China’s Hubei province.
FINANCE & ECONOMY
CMB?/
China Merchants Bank Co. Ltd. (CMB) (招商银行股份有限公司) has removed one private banking executive from his position and essentially demoted another, sources told Caixin , as the bank aims to rein in risk.
Wang Nan, one of the earliest employees of CMB’s private banking business, was expelled from the Communist Party and dismissed from his position on Dec. 14 for violating party discipline and bank rules, sources with knowledge of the matter told Caixin, citing an internal announcement the lender made that month.
Wang Yanrong, a former general manager of private banking at CMB, was recently moved to head the general office of the lender’s labor union, a post with less authority usually reserved for executives who are about to retire, the sources said. ?
Exchanges?/
Financial authorities in Hunan, Liaoning, Xi'an, and Chongqing have announced the closure of local financial asset exchanges (地方金融资产交易所), in a bid to combat financial risks and illegal fundraising activities.
Regulators said they will not allow any financial asset exchanges in their jurisdictions and they warned against the risks of “pseudo-financial exchanges.” ?
Personnel?/
Chinese conglomerate Citic Group Corp.’s recent wave of personnel moves has extended into its joint venture (JV) with British insurance giant Prudential PLC, sources told Caixin .
Chang Ge with Citic Financial Holdings Co. Ltd. is set to become general manager of Citic-Prudential Life Insurance Co. Ltd. (中信保诚人寿保险有限公司), taking over from Zhao Xiaofan, who is retiring, sources with knowledge of the matter told Caixin, citing an internal announcement. ?
Quick hits?/
BUSINESS & TECH
Starbucks?/
As a price war intensifies in China’s coffee market, Starbucks Corp. Founder Howard Schultz said the U.S. coffee chain isn’t joining in with local affordable brands’ steep discounting.
Starbucks has to “recognize that competition is happening,” but “I’m not spending one minute of my time worrying about” it and will strictly focus on the business itself, Schultz said Saturday at a forum hosted by the School of Management of Fudan University in Shanghai. ?
Patents?/
US Conec Ltd., an American firm that produces components for high-density optical interconnects, has lodged a complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) over alleged violations of its intellectual property rights by 19 companies including five from the Chinese mainland.
The complaint alleges that the 19 firms violate Section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930 because the products they export to the U.S. — including fiber-optic connectors, adapters and jump cables — infringe on Conec patents, according to a USITC document dated Monday. ?
Education?/
Wang Shuguo, a robotics expert and former president of Xi’an Jiaotong University (XJTU), has been named president of the Fuyao University of Science and Technology, founded by Chinese billionaire entrepreneur Cao Dewang. The private university is scheduled to open this fall.
The appointment was announced by Cao’s Heren Charitable Foundation on Monday. Located in the southeastern Chinese city of Fuzhou in Fujian province, the university is designed to cultivate applied research professionals and workers with technical skills, according to a Caixin interview with Cao in 2022. ?
Quick hits?/
Daily Tech Roundup?/
Long Read?/
GALLERY
Terrorists attacked a concert hall in the Russian capital on Friday, killing at least 137 after causing an explosion and opening fire on people attending a rock concert at the venue. Local authorities said 11 people had been detained in connection with the incident, including four suspected attackers. On Monday, a Moscow court approved the arrest of all four suspects, all of whom are citizens of Tajikistan living in Russia. They will be held until May 22 and could face life in prison if convicted, local media reported.