Xavier Niel becomes one of the leaders presiding over the destiny of TikTok

A fan of social networks, Xavier Niel (individual shareholder of the Le Monde Group) will participate, from the inside, in the life of one of the major applications of the global Internet. The founder and shareholder of the telecoms operator Free joined the board of directors of the Chinese group ByteDance, owner of the social network TikTok, at the end of August. He replaced the American Philippe Laffont, who represented the investment fund Coatue Management, one of ByteDance’s shareholders. According to the site The Information, who revealed this appointment on August 31, Coatue Management would seek to resell its shares.

“We are delighted to have Xavier join our Board of Directors and look forward to his guidance, contribution and inspiration.”a ByteDance representative told the newspaper South China Morning Post. Xavier Niel has not commented on his appointment. According to The Informationhe is not a shareholder of ByteDance.

Xavier Niel will sit alongside Rubo Liang, one of the co-founders of ByteDance, and another Chinese, Neil Shen, one of the directors of the investment fund Sequoia Capital. The board of directors also includes two American investors: Arthur Dantchik, co-founder of the financial company Susquehanna International, and William E. Ford, managing director of the General Atlantic fund.

This is Xavier Niel’s second directorship in an international group, outside of his telecoms activities. Since March 2018, the founder of Free has been a member of the board of directors of the American investment fund KKR, one of ByteDance’s shareholders.

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Founded in 2012, ByteDance has established itself as one of the leading social media groups in China with the video app Douyin, now used by more than 750 million Chinese each month. Developed for international use, TikTok has also enjoyed immense success. The latter has just over 1.5 billion active users worldwide, making it the fourth-largest social network, behind Facebook, YouTube and Instagram.

TikTok has become a sticking point between the United States and China in recent years because of the risks it poses to American national security. Congress passed a law on April 23 that requires Chinese company ByteDance to divest its flagship social network within 270 days or it will be banned in the United States. TikTok and ByteDance filed a lawsuit in federal court in Washington on May 7, challenging the law they call“unconstitutional”.

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