According to a statement issued by Tencent Holdings, the company is reviewing its options related to the executive order issued by U.S. President Donald Trump Thursday. The statement, sent to The Esports Observer by a representative for Tencent Holdings, was issued Aug. 7 and promised a review of the situation and subsequent announcements on actions.
On Thursday Trump issued two executive orders; one against TikTok owner ByteDance and another against Tencent Holdings’ WeChat. Both determined that transactions within the United States related to these apps would be banned 45 days after the order, or Sept. 20.
TikTok owner ByteDance issued a statement Friday promising to fight the executive order in court.
Tencent Holdings lost nearly $54B USD in market capitalization to $632B intraday on Friday as news of executive orders issued by U.S. President Donald Trump scared investors.
“We note that an executive order (the “Executive Order”) was issued on 6 August 2020 by the President of the United States of America to prohibit certain transactions related to our WeChat application and subject to the jurisdiction of the United States,” the statement reads.
“The Company is reviewing the potential consequences of the Executive Order to develop a fuller understanding of its impact on the Group. The Company will make further announcements as and when appropriate.”
The statement was issued by order of Tencent Holdings Chairman Ma Huateng at the request of “The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited.”
On Thursday, the gaming community began to show concern over transactional bans related to Tencent in the U.S., as the company owns or holds a stake in some of the biggest companies in the world. The White House later said that the transactional bans would only apply to WeChat.
