
ByteDance founder Zhang Zhang has focussed on global growth even as his counterparts have retrenched from overseas and opted to focus on domestic markets. — Reuters
BEIJING/HONG KONG: ByteDance founder Zhang Yiming has long positioned himself as a global Internet entrepreneur, largely eschewing Chinese government involvement, but US demands to sell his crown jewel TikTok are testing the boundaries with Beijing.
A year ago, ByteDance was approached by the Chinese government with offers of help when TikTok, a short-video app with a huge following among young people globally, faced political heat in India, a source familiar with the situation said. But the company sent only mid-level staff to meet with government officials, signalling that the company wanted to go it alone.
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