Kevin Mayer, former CEO of TikTok and current chairman of DAZN, said Monday that recent crackdowns by Chinese authorities have raised the bar for putting money into the country, with investors likely to need higher potential returns to balance out the increased regulatory risk.
In an interview with CNBC, Mayer also speculated that technology firms will face increased regulatory pressures around the globe, making some business models untenable.
Mayer's comments followed news that his former employer, TikTok, won't go public through an IPO of its parent company ByteDance (BDNCE). Chinese regulators halted the deal on worries about data security.
Calling the news "disappointing," Mayer said the action would add to the "continuing sense of uncertainty and risk" surrounding China.
As to regulatory risks elsewhere in the world, the one-time Disney executive said other governments would likely eventually put "guardrails" on how technology companies can collect and use data.
As a result, he argued this could create a "threat to monetization," meaning some data-dependent business models might not be "as robust."