A high-stakes trial is underway in Norristown that could impact billions tied to TikTok, and Susquehanna International Group is at the center of it, writes Jesse Bunch for the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Two former contractors are suing the Bala Cynwyd investment firm. They aledge that they were cut out of profits after helping to identify the Chinese tech would later evolve into ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company.
Plaintiffs Peter Tan and Zhang Hao say they led SIG to invest in a Chinese search engine called Kuxun. According to them, the technology was secretly retained and spun into later ventures, ultimately forming the backbone of TikTok’s success.
They say the profit-sharing agreement guaranteed them a cut of any retained value. But when SIG sold off Kuxun in 2009, they claim the firm kept the real estate portion and its powerful search tech under wraps. They argue that the tech was used to launch what would ultimately become ByteDance which is now valued at around $400 billion.
Susquehanna International Group, which reportedly holds a $15 billion stake in ByteDance, calls the case a “money grab.” Attorneys say Tan and Zhang’s contract covered earlier years and don’t apply to the 2012 ByteDance deal. They also argue that the tech wasn’t proprietary and that the plaintiffs played a smaller role than claimed.
Billionaire cofounder Jeff Yass is not named in the suit and has not appeared in court.
To learn more about the case against Bala Cynwyd’s Susquehanna International Group, visit the Philadelphia Inquirer.
