TikTok owner ByteDance scales back Chinese real estate operations by divesting bricks-and-mortar property unit as market remains weak
- Subsidiary Fujian Haofang, which runs about 200 offline brokerages in the southeastern city of Fuzhou, was sold to a unit of real estate firm Maitian
- ByteDance’s decision to sell its real estate business underscores the tech unicorn’s continued reorganisation efforts
Fujian Haofang Youxing Information Technology Co – a ByteDance subsidiary that operates roughly 200 offline brokerages in Fuzhou, capital of southeastern Fujian province – has been sold for an undisclosed amount to Fuqing Wumai Corporate Management Co, a unit of major Chinese real estate services provider Maitian, according to a change of the company’s registry in late April tracked by business data provider Qichacha.
At the same time, the legal representative of Fujian Haofang, Wang Fengkun, who is also the tech director of ByteDance’s advertising platform, was replaced by Liu Chenglin, a Maitian manager in Fuzhou.
Following those moves, ByteDance over the weekend acquired for an undisclosed sum a 7.5 per cent stake in Maitian’s main entity Maitian Holding (Beijing) Co, according to company registry records.
The disposal of Fujian Haofang, however, is not expected to diminish ByteDance’s ties with China’s property market even while sharpening its “focus on its main business”, according to a representative of the Beijing-based tech giant’s real estate unit Xingfuli.
