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.
The collaboration between ByteDance and Maitian in the real estate sector will see the tech unicorn handle online promotion, while the other will be responsible for offline initiatives, according to the representative.
Maitian did not immediately reply to a request for comment on Monday.
In break from past, ByteDance buy-back price for staff shareholders sees no rise
ByteDance initially ran its real estate unit in 2018 under the Xingfuli brand, which grew from a channel that provided property information on news aggregator Jinri Toutiao. Xingfuli opened its first offline agency, Xiaomai Property, in May last year.
Beijing likely to ‘keep market support coming’ as China’s home sales tank
Those included scrapping restrictions on home purchases in some cities, cutting mortgage rates and facilitating funding access to ease the liquidity squeeze on developers.
China’s property market, one of the country’s most important sectors, has been rattled by slumping home prices, weak sales and a crippling debt crisis among major developers.
