The TikTok parent company acquires a Chinese hospital chain
ByteDance pays $1.5B for Amcare Healthcare in China
In one of the biggest tech mergers since Beijing’s Internet crackdown, ByteDance Ltd. has paid approximately $1.5 billion to acquire one of China’s largest private hospital chains, expanding its entrance into the healthcare industry.
TikTok’s Chinese owner paid about 10 billion yuan to acquire full ownership of Amcare Healthcare, which manages women’s and children’s hospitals in cities from Beijing to Shenzhen.
Qichacha, a corporate register tracker, reported two ByteDance entities now jointly possess a 100% share in Amcare.
The health-care app from ByteDance, Xiaohe, competes with Ping An Healthcare and Technology Co. and Alibaba Health Information Technology Ltd, in the $89 billion market for online consultations, hospital visits, and wellness services.
The social networking behemoth, better known for its addictive content apps, has joined other tech behemoths, including Apple Inc. and Amazon.com Inc, in digitising and upending the traditional healthcare sector.
The transaction is also one of the biggest to come out of Chinese tech since regulators started restricting ‘disorderly capital expansion’ in late 2020, discouraging the kinds of high-priced acquisitions that Tencent Holdings Ltd. and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. used in the past to enter and dominate new markets.
With varying degrees of success, ByteDance has diversified beyond its primary online entertainment business. Although it is currently the most valuable startup in the world, it may be looking for growth in new sectors as its market valuation has decreased along with a savage global tech selloff.
