Executives at Fosun-owned online dating giant Baihe Jiayuan arrested for embezzlement after report of ‘missing’ managers

Fosun International said executives at its Chinese online-dating subsidiary have been arrested for alleged financial embezzlement, following local media reports about the sudden disappearance of top managers.

The conglomerate’s anti-graft department found clues that executives at Baihe Jiayuan Network Group abused their position to commit crimes and reported them to the public security authority, a company representative in Shanghai said in a statement posted to WeChat.

“Certain executives at Baihe Jiayuan have been arrested by the police,” the person said, without disclosing the names or number of executives involved. The board has authorised relevant personnel to exercise their corresponding duties, and “a new management team will take office soon”, according to the statement.

The arrests came after rumors surfaced on Chinese social media platform Weibo on Monday about the disappearance of Baihe Jiayuan’s management team, including its chief executive, chief operating officer and chief financial officer.

After the news was picked up by local media, the online dating firm responded by saying certain executives were “cooperating with the judicial authorities for personal reasons”.

Baihe Jiayuan runs China’s two biggest matchmaking and wedding platforms, boasting 310 million registered users, according to Fosun’s website. The firm did not immediately respond to a separate request for comment on Tuesday. Fosun stock climbed 2.2 per cent to HK$6.89 (US$0.88) in Hong Kong.

Baihe Jiayuan is a merger of two Chinese online dating platforms called Baihe.com and Jiayuan.com, leading to the privatisation of Nasdaq-listed Jiayuan in 2016. Fosun bought about 70 per cent of the merged entity in 2018 for 4 billion yuan (US$593 million).

The scandal also came after Baihe Jiayuan’s offshore unit known as Lovelink Group proposed in April to grant a stock option plan as an incentive to the core management team to achieve profit and stock listing of Lovelink as soon as possible.