Facebook opens subsidiary in China after being locked out of the country for years

SAN FRANCISCO: Facebook has obtained a license to set up an office in China - a first for the company, which has been shut of China’s lucrative market for years despite many attempts to break in.

The US$ 30 million subsidiary, which will open in the southern city of Hangzhou, would be set up as a startup incubator, making minor investments and advising small businesses, according to a person familiar with the company’s thinking and a Chinese business filing.

Facebook is currently blocked in China. Chief executive Mark Zuckerberg made personal appeals to the Chinese Communist Party’s top brass, including learning Mandarin and taking a notorious “smog jog” through Tiananmen Square, braving toxic air pollution for a photo op in 2016.

“We are interested in setting up an innovation hub in Zhejiang to support Chinese developers, innovators and start-ups,” the company said in a statement. “We have done this in several parts of the world — France, Brazil, India, Korea - and our efforts would be focused on training and workshops that help these developers and entrepreneurs to innovate and grow.”

A notice published on China’s National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System listed the company as Facebook Technology ( Hangzhou) Co., Ltd and noted that it is wholly owned by Facebook Hong Kong. It has registered capital of US$ 30 million.

The filing, which is no longer accessible, provided few details about what the subsidiary will - or won’t - do. It stated the “business scope” included technology development, technical services and investment consulting, among long list of other things.

Facebook had quietly launched a photo- sharing app called “Colorful Balloons” for the Chinese market last year. It was released by a company called Youge Internet Technology. — Washington Post.