The federal government’s push to crack down on China-based TikTok has brought renewed attention to Jeff Yass, the richest man in Pennsylvania, the largest donor in the 2024 election to date and an influential early investor in the viral video app.
Yass, a leading securities trader, major political donor, and key player in the school-choice movement, heads Bala Cynwyd-based Susquehanna International Group (SIG). A SIG investment fund owns a 15% stake in TikTok’s China-based parent company ByteDance. The Main Line investor’s personal share is 7%, worth roughly $21 billion, according to The Wall Street Journal.
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More than 150 million Americans use TikTok, making it the app’s largest market. The company could lose significant revenue if Congress speeds forward with legislation to force a sale of the company to allow it to continue to operate in the U.S. As soon as next week, Senate could vote to send the bill to the White House, The New York Times reported Thursday.
How is Main Line supertrader Jeff Yass involved?
As reported in The Inquirer and other media, Yass’ company, Susquehanna International Group, has invested in hundreds of Chinese companies since the early 2000s. According to an Inquirer review, SIG’s China investments include a wide range of technology, consumer and education companies, some of them similar to other SIG investments elsewhere in Asia and in Europe and North and South America.
Among SIG’s investments was a 2009 position in 99Fang, headed by engineer Zhang Yi Ming, originally a real estate search service. Thursday’s report in the New York Times, based on documents temporarily made public in a long-running lawsuit by disgruntled TikTok consultants, details how a group backed by Yass played an important early role in helping the 99Fang founder develop TikTok as a mass short-video platform.
The Times and others say Susquehanna still controls an estimated 15% of ByteDance, which would be worth around $34 billion. Yass’ share in that total is the largest factor in estimates of his fortune, which Bloomberg recently estimated at around $41 billion.
How important is TikTok?
According to data compiled by Statistia, TikTok is a dominant social media network in the U.S, with 26% of total viewership. Its advertising market share is less than half as much, as U.S. and Western European companies prefer to advertise on Facebook and other Western rivals.
Who thinks TikTok is dangerous for Americans, and why?
The FBI and the Federal Communications Commission warn that TikTok’s China-based owners could be forced to share users’ browsing history, location, and biometrics with China’s government. TiKTok says that hasn’t happened and said it would not cooperate with such a request, Associated Press reported.
Will the government really ban TikTok?
Since at least 2019. Democrats and Republicans have called on the government to restrict use of the very popular short-video app as relations with China’s Communist leadership worsened.
A bill that passed the U.S. House last month calls TikTok a “foreign adversary controlled application” and would prohibit U.S. servers and app stores from giving Americans access to the service.
The proposal is racing towards expected Senate confirmation and President Joe Biden’s signature. The president has said he will sign the bill while a former supporter, former President Donald Trump, has flip-flopped and now criticizes the proposal.
What will TikTok do?
During former President Donald Trump’s administration, the government had proposed selling shares held by ByteDance’s Chinese owners to U.S. companies; the proposal fell through. Such a sale, if ByteDance agreed, could keep TikTok running. But the service is also popular in many other countries, and ByteDance — or the Chinese government — could oppose a sale.
Trump has changed his stance, saying last month that shutting out TikTok could benefit Facebook, which he perceives as a company more favorable to Democrats.
How has Yass’ fortune influenced politics?
Yass is the biggest donor in the 2024 election so far. He spent $46 million on unsuccessful Republican rivals of Trump and groups who support school choice.
While Yass is a Republican megadonor, he has financed candidates of both parties who support school choice, including public support for private education, as well as charter schools. His wife, Janine Yass, a cofounder of Boys’ Latin Charter School, is also a school choice advocate. She is the founder and chair of the Yass Prize for Sustainable, Transformational, Outstanding and Permissionless Education.
A longtime supporter of libertarian politics, Yass champions private and charter schools, and has showered millions on politicians who take positions he supports. His school advocacy has drawn the ire of public-school teachers unions, and his support for conservative groups in Israel has also made Yass a target of Jewish liberals.
A senior Yass aide and an outside spokesperson didn’t return calls seeking comment.
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