![]() I think is somewhat questionable,” she added, “but at least in the business community, it makes look good.” “How much that registers with the policy community in D.C. … They are trying so hard to find every channel to push their message in Washington, and J.P. “They must have been considering that: They want a very credible partner in this space that will help them burnish their own reputation. ![]() makes the company look more trustworthy,” Lu said. Morgan is such a well-established, well-networked, very influential stakeholder in the U.S., and cooperating with a major player in the U.S. politics is smart positioning and an invaluable endorsement. “Alipay is no longer politically popular with the party leadership,” she said, “and I think they see that as a market opportunity.”įor ByteDance, meanwhile, syncing up with a revered American financial institution and experienced player in U.S. Morgan, which only recently was granted expanded market access in China, the ByteDance collab could give them a foothold in China’s e-payment market, according to Lu. And in spite of the heightened political pressure in the U.S., she said the team-up offers clear benefits for both sides.įor J.P. Xiaomeng Lu, a director at Eurasia Group, a firm advising clients on geopolitical risks, sees the departures as evidence that the unicorn is “cash rich” and can afford to recruit seasoned financial experts and pay them a premium. Neither company would comment on the hiring strategy. Morgan employees have decamped for ByteDance’s global payments team, including executives in the United Kingdom, Shanghai and Beijing, according to LinkedIn. Morgan executive Kingsley Lam, who after more than a decade at the bank left in 2020 to oversee global payments, for the Americas and Europe, at TikTok and ByteDance, according to LinkedIn (he did not respond to an interview request). ![]() Levine on Signal at (310) 526–1242 or email of TikTok’s hiring priorities appears to be staffing its Global Payments team, which “is building a platform to provide cross-border payment solutions for all ByteDance's products and services, such as TikTok,” according to a recent job posting on LinkedIn. Got a tip about these companies? Reach out to the author Alexandra S. Its workforce is also growing: As Meta, one of TikTok’s fiercest rivals, sheds employees to weather the economic downturn, TikTok is hiring thousands-including in the U.S. ![]() was downloaded almost 60 million times last year, per Sensor Tower. The app has more than a billion users around the world and in the U.S. That widespread alarm has done little to deter TikTok’s virality. TikTok is also being sued by Indiana for allegedly deceiving users about data security and child safety on the app, and late last Congress, lawmakers introduced bipartisan, bicameral legislation to ban it. Scrutiny of TikTok is at a record high as the Biden administration seeks a deal addressing these homeland security issues and as bipartisan state attorneys general investigate the app’s alleged harms to minors. ByteDance spokesperson Jennifer Banks said only that its global payments team “is an internal function that supports our businesses' needs” and that “this department works to ensure third parties, including partners and vendors, are compensated for their work.” In response to a detailed list of questions, TikTok directed Forbes to a blog post on how it protects Americans’ data. Morgan did not respond to a request for comment. Glenn Gerstell, former NSA general counsel Morgan’s work with ByteDance is “not a black-and-white. … I don't think Americans really appreciate the extent of it and the potential risks.” “Is this one activity itself terrible? No, probably not. “This is a step in assisting a major Chinese company, ByteDance, facilitate payments on a platform that does present national security risks,” he added. Morgan’s work with TikTok’s owner is “not a black-and-white ,” he said, “it's steps along a gray continuum.” “The bigger picture of the potential threat posed by Chinese payment mechanisms… absolutely presents a genuine security concern for the United States,” Gerstell told Forbes. But he said helping ByteDance plant a flag in payments-a space where China is already building a stronghold with Alibaba’s Alipay and Tencent’s Tenpay, used with WeChat-is a slippery, potentially dangerous slope. Morgan doing ByteDance’s “financial plumbing” is not, on its face, problematic. Both Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and FBI Director Christopher Wray late last year spoke out publicly about the national security concerns surrounding TikTok.įormer National Security Agency general counsel Glenn Gerstell said that J.P. But intelligence and business experts say ByteDance’s move into payments stands out because of the current geopolitical climate and widespread fears about TikTok’s handling of Americans’ data, given its ties to China. Big American banks have long worked with Chinese companies.
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