Media: U.S. authorities may force Tencent to divest its American gaming assets
The White House has once again turned its attention to investments by the Chinese giant Tencent in U.S. gaming companies, reports the Financial Times, citing sources. According to the newspaper, American authorities fear that such deals could potentially pose a threat to the country's national security.
League of Legends
If the Financial Times is to be believed, a meeting on this issue was supposed to take place yesterday, March 3, but it was postponed due to officials' busy schedules. When it will now take place is unknown.
Authorities are primarily concerned about Tencent's control over Riot Games and Epic Games — the Chinese holding company fully owns the former and holds a 40% stake in the latter. Additionally, they are worried about Tencent's majority stake in Supercell, which, although based in Finland, boasts a large audience of players in the U.S. Officials believe Tencent could leverage its position to gain access to the personal data of American gamers.
Currently, the White House wants to discuss whether to allow Tencent to continue owning these assets or to force the holding to sell them.
Recall that Tencent's gaming assets were already under scrutiny by U.S. authorities in 2020. At that time, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States took an interest and conducted an investigation. As the Financial Times writes, the agencies comprising the committee ultimately did not reach a unanimous decision, so they did not force Tencent to sell.
Tencent did not comment on the Financial Times article.