China Tech Inc.’s Annus Horribilis: Fully Charged

By any measure, 2018 has been an awful year for China Tech Inc. That’s a bit of a shame because for a few shining moments in 2017, it seemed as if Tencent and its ilk were on top of the world, on the brink of fulfilling that not-so-secret collective dream of upstaging Silicon Valley. Then things started going off the rails. (Optional record scratch here).

It started slowly: rumblings of a U.S.-China trade war. Financiers whispering about stretched valuations in smoky Shanghai parlors. Mega-fundraisings emerged less frequently. Beijing, ever intent on squeezing the last ounce of fun out of the internet, began going to hitherto unseen extremes to censor online activities. Then, just as the country’s tech and investment glitterati sat down to plan their summer vacations, the hits began coming. Fast.