Trump Issues Executive Order Prohibiting Transactions With WeChat And Tencent
Just a few hours ago, the internet blew up when US President Donald Trump issued an executive order that prohibits any transactions with WeChat and its Chinese-owned parent company, Tencent pursuant to EO 13873 (Securing the Information and Communications Technology and Services Supply Chain) which was issued in May 2019.
“The following actions shall be prohibited beginning 45 days after the date of this order, to the extent permitted under applicable law: any transaction that is related to WeChat by any person, or with respect to any property, subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, with Tencent Holdings Ltd. (a.k.a. Téngxùn Kònggǔ Yǒuxiàn Gōngsī), Shenzhen, China, or any subsidiary of that entity, as identified by the Secretary of Commerce (Secretary) under section 1(c) of this order.”
As you probably already know, Tencent is one of the biggest tech companies in the world with stakes in several big-name video game development studios including Activision Blizzard, Bluehole Studios, Epic Games, Funcom, Kakao Games, Riot Games, and even Discord. The new EO is vaguely worded but this would mean that transactions with World of Warcraft, Call of Duty, Player Unknown's Battlegrounds, Fortnite, Conan Exiles, Secret World, and a long list of other games will be banned once the EO goes into effect in 45 days, effectively crippling the gaming industry, not only in China, but also the rest of the world.
list of game and tech companies Tencent has stake in:
Riot Games (100%)
Epic Games (40%)
Supercell
Activision Blizzard
Bluehole
Ubisoft
Discord
Huya
Douyu
Grinding Gear Games
Frontier Developments
Paradox Interactive
Funcom
Sharkmob
Fatshark
Kakao https://t.co/njItJiBTy4— Rod Breslau (@Slasher) August 7, 2020
