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CHINESE technology companies are expanding their reach in Hong Kong even as a pandemic prompts a number of banks to consider opening a branch there.
Reported by Bloomberg, the parent application of TikTok, ByteDance Ltd., and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. has signed a lease contract to add office space in Hong Kong, according to a source who did not want to be named because the plan is still closed.
ByteDance pays three years’ rent for office space of about 279 square meters in Times Square, Causeway Bay. Alibaba has also agreed to rent a one storey area of 1,579 m2 in the same building. The company currently leases three floors and dozens of new units.
Representatives for ByteDance and Alibaba were not immediately available for comment on this plan.
This new lease underlines the ambitions of the two tech giants to expand their global footprint, due to slowing domestic market growth.
ByteDance is working to duplicate TikTok’s success in online entertainment, while Alibaba’s divisions including e-commerce and cloud computing are looking for overseas clients and customers.
The Bytedance valuation has jumped to more than US$100 billion recently, as investor confidence in the TikTok video platform is growing. The company has previously drawn up aggressive expansion plans and opened 40,000 new jobs in 2020, including two Hong Kong-based positions to draft content policies, according to the ByteDance employment reference site. [bisnis.com/photo special]
