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| Bart Gordon |
Former Congressman Bart Gordon represents Beijing-headquartered ByteDance, parent company of Chinese social media darling TikTok, which is trying to fend off US sanctions.
Sens. Chuck Schumer and Tom Cotton have asked Joseph Maguire, acting director of national intelligence, for an assessment on whether the short-form video platform poses a national security risk to the US.
The Wall Street Journal reported Nov. 18 that TikTok is "looking for ways to shake off its ties to China."
Moving operations to Singapore and rebranding in the US are among considerations that have been floated by TikTok executives and advisors.
A ByteDance spokesperson though, told the WSJ that a Singapore shift is not in the cards.
Gordon, a Democrat who represented the Nashville area for 26 years and chaired the House science & technology committee, handles general issues affecting Internet companies for ByteDance, in his capacity as partner at K&L Gates.
K&L's Stephen Martinko, former chief of staff to Congressman Bill Shuster and member of the Trump transition team, and Stacy Ettinger, one-time aide to Schumer, also represent ByteDance.
The Journal noted that ByteDance, which is valued at $75B, ranks as one of the most valuable startups in the world.
Knob Petroleum, which is based in Panama City, has retained Ballard Partners to explore opportunities in Venezuela.
Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck has signed to represent Eastern Air Holdings, which operates deportation flights for Immigration & Customs Enforcement.
Ballard Partners has lined up Australia’s Energy Transition Minerals company, an explorer and developer of rare earths minerals opportunities. It touts its Greenland property as having the potential to become the biggest rare earths producer in the western world.
Abbvie has retained Trump-connected Winston-Salem-based Checkmate Government Relations for healthcare matters and issues related to the life sciences sector.
Netflix has retained Bloom Strategic Counsel for regulatory matters regarding its proposed $83B merger with Warner Bros. Discovery.
