Former Tencent employee ordered to pay US$167,000 for breaching non-compete pact after joining TikTok owner ByteDance

The Beijing No 1 Intermediate People’s Court on March 22 issued a ruling against Chen Shuo for breaking a six-month non-compete agreement with Tencent. Chen was ordered to pay Tencent compensation for the breach and return the sum he received from the firm after signing the non-compete pact. — SCMP

A former employee of Tencent Holdings has been slapped by a Beijing court with a fine totalling 1.1mil yuan (US$167,000 or RM693,767) for breaking a non-compete agreement with the company after he joined TikTok-owner ByteDance, heating up the rivalry between the two Chinese internet giants.

The Beijing No 1 Intermediate People’s Court on March 22 issued a ruling against Chen Shuo, who worked as a senior editor in Tencent’s content platform department for two-and-a-half years, for breaking the six-month non-compete clause in his employment contract with the Shenzhen-based company, according to court documents published on the official database China Judgements Online on March 31.