Authorities have reportedly detained two well-known Chinese businessmen: an investment guru and the founder of a tech company. In the second-largest economy in the world, the CEO of a live-streaming service backed by Tencent is the latest high-profile figure to go silent for no apparent reason. Cover News, a state-run media outlet, reported on Monday that Chen Shaojie, the CEO of DouYu (DOYU), has not been reachable lately.
It also referenced unverified rumors stating Chen had been missing for almost three weeks and was the subject of an investigation.
DouYu did not immediately reply to a CNN request for comment, and the outlet did not identify which authorities might be conducting the investigation.
The owner of the Chinese live-streaming platform DouYu has not been heard from for weeks, and his company claims he cannot be reached.
According to the report, the 39-year-old CEO last appeared in public in August when he participated in the company’s quarterly earnings conference call with financial analysts.
In 2019, DouYu went public on the Nasdaq, raising approximately $775 million through one of the biggest share offerings by a Chinese company on Wall Street at the time.
DouYu, which means “fighting fish” in Mandarin, is frequently likened to Twitch on Amazon.com. It allows users to chat in real-time, and watch other content made for its platform. Host interactive live streams of video games on its desktop and mobile apps.
In the meantime, his company confirmed on Monday that another executive, known as China’s Warren Buffet, had been placed under arrest.
According to his company, Zhao Bingxian was supporting investigators.
Wohua Pharmaceutical said the matter was unrelated to the publicly traded company and that it had not received any formal notice. However it did not provide any information regarding the reasons behind their chairman, Mr. Zhao’s, detention.
Douyu, a streaming service, has not yet made a public statement in response to media reports regarding the detention of its founder, Chen Shaojie.
According to anonymous sources cited by the Financial Times newspaper on Tuesday, Mr. Chen was detained as part of an investigation into gambling and pornographic content on Douyu, both of which are prohibited in China.
Echoing reports from Chinese media, they said that he had not been able to be contacted for several weeks, starting in October.
Renowned streaming service Douyu is a publicly traded company in China, owned primarily by the internet behemoth Tencent.
This year, Chinese authorities have detained a number of leaders in the finance and technology sectors. It raising fears of a broader crackdown from Beijing.
One of the most well-known billionaire bankers in China was reported missing by his company in February.
Later, the market was informed by China Renaissance Holdings that well-known tech industry dealmaker Bao Fan was helping investigators. Since then, he has not been seen in public.
Additionally, Jack Ma is the founder of Alibaba and one of the most well-known businessmen in China. He vanished from the public eye for three months in late 2020 after making critical remarks regarding market regulators.
