A unit of ByteDance, the owner of video-sharing platform TikTok, has established a joint venture with a Chinese state media group, official registration documents showed, reported Reuters.
ByteDance, which is one of China’s fastest-growing startups, has formed a series of partnerships with state media organizations in order to feed its leading news aggregator platform, Jinri Toutiao. “The joint venture will focus on partnership in the digital rights of short videos,” a ByteDance spokeswoman said in response to Reuters inquiries about the deal.
Under the latest deal, Beijing Liangzi Yuedong Technology Co Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of ByteDance, will own 49% of the new company, Pengpai Audiovisual Technology (Jinan) Co Ltd, with Shanghai Dongfang Newspaper Co Ltd holding the remaining 51% majority stake, the documents from the National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System showed.
ByteDance’s TikTok platform has become popular with teenagers all over the world, but the company’s ties with Chinese authorities have faced scrutiny in recent weeks amid a US national security panel’s inquiry into the safety of the personal data it handles.
