Why Is ByteDance TikTok’s Parent Company Buying Up Hospitals?
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ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, has bought a chain of Chinese hospitals for 10 billion yuan ($1.5 billion). ByteDance and its subsidiaries, mainly known for its video platform, now is 100% owners of Amcare, as reported by Bloomberg.
So why is ByteDance doing this? The answer to this seems obvious here: money.
They are based in China. However, ByteDance has started to purchase other sectors in the last few years and is possibly working on its music-streaming app.
This is not ByteDance’s first significant move into the profitable Chinese healthcare industry, where its market value is about 6.23 trillion yuan (USD 1 trillion).
The last significant move they made was purchasing the online medical encyclopedia Baikemy.com a couple of years ago, in 2020, before they created an app that allows them to connect patients to doctors nationwide in China. It lets them send photos and text information about their ailments for a diagnosis and help.
Their recent move to purchase Amcare is one of the most significant since the Communist Party of China started to crack down on technology giants in 2020. They formed anti-monopoly laws to focus on firms they think are far too big.
ByteDance is not the first company to try and force its way into the healthcare industry following its success in its original sector. Recently, Amazon purchased One Medical, a business that works in virtual appointments and online healthcare, for just under $4 billion.
