TikTok Terminates Acquisition of Payment Firm Linkage Advantage
IT Home (China Tech) reports that TikTok has ended its agreement to acquire Linkage Advantage. The deal was terminated after the target company's payment license was suspended.
IT Home, a China Tech publication, reported on September 30 that Tianjin Tongrong has formally terminated its agreement to acquire Linkage Advantage from HaiLian Jinhui. This decision follows the suspension of Linkage Advantage's payment license by the People's Bank of China at the end of August.
Tianjin Tongrong is an entity within the ByteDance ecosystem, the parent company of TikTok. The acquisition, initially valued at 750 million yuan plus net assets at closing, was intended to support TikTok's offline transaction services. The deal was first announced in April 2024.
Linkage Advantage, established in 2012, received its payment business license in 2014. ByteDance acquired Wuhan Hezhong Yibao Technology Co., Ltd., the entity holding the license, in August 2020. The payment service, Douyin Pay, officially launched in January 2021.
The termination highlights regulatory scrutiny within China's fintech sector. The suspension of Linkage Advantage's license prevents the immediate expansion of TikTok's payment services through this planned acquisition.