China: DouYu founder, investment guru 'detained'

Two prominent businessmen in China - a tech founder and an investment guru - have been detained by authorities according to reports.

The boss of Chinese live-streaming site DouYu has been missing for weeks with his firm saying he cannot be contacted.

Meanwhile, another executive - who has been referred to as China's Warren Buffet - was on Monday confirmed by his firm to have been detained.

Zhao Bingxian was assisting authorities in an investigation, his firm said.

Wohua Pharmaceutical did not disclose any details as to the reasons for their chairman Mr Zhao's detention but said the matter had nothing to do with the publicly-listed company and it had not received any formal notice.

Meanwhile streaming platform Douyu has not issued public comment after media reports of their founder Chen Shaojie's detention.

The Financial Times newspaper on Tuesday cited anonymous sources in reporting that Mr Chen had been taken as part of a probe into pornography and gambling content on Douyu - activities which are illegal in China.

They said he had not been able to be contacted for several weeks now, beginning in October, echoing reports by Chinese media.

Douyu is a major streaming platform in China where it is publicly-listed with internet giant Tencent as its chief shareholder.

There have been other cases of finance and tech industry leaders being detained by Chinese authorities this year - sparking concerns of a wider crackdown from Beijing.

In February, one of China's most high-profile billionaire bankers was reported missing by his firm.

China Renaissance Holdings later confirmed to the market that Bao Fan, a renowned tech industry deal maker was assisting authorities with an investigation. He has not been seen publicly since.

And in late 2020, one of China's most famous business leaders, Alibaba founder Jack Ma also disappeared from public view for three months, after making critical comments about market regulators.