China Tutoring Ban Hits ByteDance, Puts Tencent’s $3 Billion Stake in Danger

Photo by Bloomberg.

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TikTok-owner ByteDance had made big plans for online education, hiring around 10,000 employees to tap a $100 billion market. China’s sudden ban of for-profit tutoring in school curriculum may have scuppered those plans. Some ByteDance employees who work on the company’s tutoring apps are already asking around for other job opportunities outside education, because of concerns that Beijing’s crackdown could force many services to shut down.

ByteDance is one of many tech giants and startups that are likely to be affected by the new government rules barring tutoring businesses that teach the school curriculum from making profits, raising funds or going public. Others affected include Tencent, which has a 20.6% stake in tutoring app Yuanfudao, as well as Alibaba, SoftBank, Tiger Global and Sequoia Capital China, which have stakes in Chinese tutoring apps.