[Epoch Times October 30, 2021](Epoch Times reporter Xia Yu comprehensive report) Not long ago, Tencent planned to acquire the British video game company Sumo Group for US$1.27 billion. On Friday (October 29), Sumo Group revealed that a US National Security Council is investigating the acquisition.
Reuters reported that Sumo Group stated that Tencent has agreed to obtain approval from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), which evaluates transactions to ensure they do not harm national security. Sumo and Tencent are in contact with CFIUS, hoping to obtain the acquisition license before the end of the year.
Sumo Group has a studio in the United States.
CFIUS is an agency under the U.S. Department of the Treasury that cross-sectoral assessment of foreign mergers and acquisitions. The U.S. Congress passed bipartisan legislation in 2018 to expand the powers of CFIUS, authorizing CFIUS for the first time to review transactions that were not submitted but that may harm U.S. national security.
Just a few days after the Chinese Communist Party’s market regulator blocked Tencent’s plan to merge video game streaming sites Huya and Douyu on the grounds of antitrust, on July 19, British game developer Sumo Group disclosed that it agreed to a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tencent Holdings. Sixjoy (Hong Kong) acquired the company in full in cash.
Sumo Group was founded in 2003 and was once affiliated with the American company Foundation 9 Entertainment. Then in 2014, he separated from the parent company and moved to the UK to establish himself.
Sumo Group currently has 14 studios, distributed in 5 countries including the United States, and more than 1,200 employees. They have participated in the production of more than 60 games and become the world‘s largest third-party game studio. , And also reached strategic partnerships with Microsoft, Sega, SONY, and Apple.
In August of this year, the U.S. Treasury Department stated that a Chinese private equity firm’s acquisition of the semiconductor company Magnachip Semiconductor Corp constitutes a “national security risk.” The U.S. Committee on Foreign Investment has put aside the acquisition.
Editor in charge: Li Huanyu#
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