China Wrecks IPO Plans for High-Flying Education Startups
- A crackdown on predatory practices unravels mega IPOs
- It’s an unprecedented campaign to dial back excesses
Photographer: Xaume Olleros/Bloomberg
This article is for subscribers only.
China is escalating a crackdown on its online education sector, forcing once high-flying startups to mothball plans for multi-billion-dollar initial public offerings this year.
Just months ago, edtech outfits were one of the hottest investments in China’s post-Covid internet industry, pulling in more than $10 billion of venture funding last year from powerhouses like Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., Tencent Holdings Ltd. and SoftBank Group Corp. Then Beijing stepped in.