None of China’s top tech companies, whether listed or unlisted, have been invulnerable to the downdraft that has blown through public markets and parts of the private markets.
These days, though, some have been more vulnerable than others. Among them are many of the first generation companies that once seemed invincible.
At one time, they were the creative spark that ignited the fortunes of the country as well as themselves; even today nine of the top 20 groups by market cap globally are Chinese. The trio that became best known by the market acronym BAT — Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent— were a shorthand for the emergence of leading edge homegrown mainland tech groups that would rival the might and reach of their counterparts in Silicon Valley.