Will ByteDance Be Used Against Didi in Court?
The shelved IPO of TikTok’s parent comes just as class action suits in the U.S. are being readied against China’s ride-hailing giant.
Not all unicorns are created equal.
Photographer: GIANRIGO MARLETTA/AFPThe fallout from Didi Global Inc.’s New York listing at the end of June have generated securities fraud class action suits. If the U.S. lawyers behind those cases are looking for fresh ammunition to use against China’s ride-hailing giant, could they find it in ByteDance Ltd., China’s other big unicorn?
On Monday, the Wall Street Journal reported that in March ByteDance, the owner of popular short-video app TikTok, put on indefinite hold its intentions to go public in Hong Kong or New York after government officials told the company to focus on addressing data security risks. This is awkward for Didi. The Cyberspace Administration of China requested multiple changes to Didi’s mapping function before its U.S. listing, fearing it could reveal sensitive government locations. It chose to go ahead with its initial public offering anyway.