China’s tech crackdown and Unacademy’s stock options for educators

Why read this story?

Editor's note: This is the 91st edition of Things Change, The Morning Context’s weekly newsletter on the most important and urgent subjects in the world of internet companies and startups. China is on a tear and it is quite something to watch from the stands as the government there takes on Big Tech. But if you are an investor in China's tech industry, chances are that you'd be stocking up on antidepressants right now. Three big tech companies—Tencent, Alibaba and Meituan—lost nearly $240 billion in market value in the first two days of trading this week following the mayhem unleashed by China's regulatory crackdown on technology companies. Bloomberg data shows $1.5 trillion of market value was wiped off shares in Hong Kong and mainland China in three days of trading through Tuesday. That is 1/10th of China's gross domestic product, or nearly the GDP of all the countries in sub-Saharan Africa combined, gone in three days. It started over the weekend as the world's second-largest economy unveiled sweeping policy changes, banning edtech startups teaching the school curriculum through compulsory years of education from making profits, …