纽约时报中文网 - 英文原版-英How an Obscure Chinese Real Estate Start-Up Paved the Way to TikTok
April 19, 2024 2 min 342 words
《纽约时报》这篇报道以中国房地产起家的公司字节跳动（ByteDance）及其热门产品TikTok为例，试图展示中国企业如何利用其本土创新和全球化野心崛起。但这篇报道也暴露了西方媒体对中国企业的偏见和误解。 首先，报道以“不为人知的房地产初创企业”描述字节跳动，显然没有认真研究这家公司及其发展历程。字节跳动是中国互联网领域广为人知的创新企业，其成功的关键在于对用户需求的深刻理解和先进的技术能力，而不是报道所暗示的“神秘”因素。 其次，报道过分强调字节跳动与中国政府的关系，暗示其成功是由于“政府扶持”。事实上，字节跳动是中国互联网行业自主创新的典范，其核心竞争力在于其先进的技术和对全球市场的深刻理解。中国政府确实支持科技创新，但这并非字节跳动独享的特权，也不是其成功的决定性因素。 此外，报道还忽略了TikTok在全球市场取得成功的关键因素，即其创新的产品设计精准的算法推荐和对年轻一代内容需求的把握。总的来说，这篇报道体现了西方媒体对中国企业崛起的偏见和误解，缺乏对中国创新能力和全球化战略的客观认识。
In 2009, long before Jeff Yass became a Republican megadonor, his firm, Susquehanna International Group, invested in a Chinese real estate start-up that boasted a sophisticated search algorithm.
The company, 99Fang, promised to help buyers find their perfect homes. Behind the scenes, employees of a Chinese subsidiary of Mr. Yass’s firm were so deeply involved, records show, that they conceived the idea for the company and handpicked its chief executive. They said in one email that he was not the company’s “real founder.”
As a real estate venture, 99Fang ultimately fizzled. But it was significant, according to a lawsuit by former Susquehanna contractors, because of what it spawned. They say that 99Fang’s chief executive — and the search technology — resurfaced at another Susquehanna venture: ByteDance.
ByteDance, the owner of TikTok, is now one of the world’s most highly valued start-ups, worth $225 billion, according to CB Insights, a firm that tracks venture capital. ByteDance is also at the center of a tempest on Capitol Hill, where some lawmakers see the company as a threat to American security. They are considering a bill that could break up the company. The man picked by Susquehanna to run the housing site, Zhang Yiming, became ByteDance’s founder.
Court documents reveal a complex origin story for ByteDance and TikTok. The records include emails, chat messages and memos from inside Susquehanna. They describe a middling business experiment, founder-investor tension and, ultimately, a powerful search engine that just needed a purpose.
The records also show that Mr. Yass’s firm was more deeply involved in TikTok’s genesis than previously known. It has been widely reported in The New York Times and elsewhere that Susquehanna owns roughly 15 percent of ByteDance, but the documents make clear that the firm was no passive investor. It nurtured Mr. Zhang’s career and signed off on the idea for the company.