[bilbo0s]

i wonder for how long tencent and the other conglomerates will obey these orders

Strange question with what I would consider to be an obvious answer. They will obey for as long as they want the profits they get from China's market of video game players for instance. Which strikes me as pretty much "forever".

What company is gonna leave and give that kind of gift wrapped profit center to someone else voluntarily?

[AnimalMuppet]

Any company, when the realize that it's no longer a profit center, and isn't likely to return to being a profit center any time soon.

The trick for China is to get the regulations in place that are necessary, without putting so many in place that it strangles profitability (and therefore destroys business). But come to think of it, that's the trick for any country when regulating.

[jollybean]

"What company is gonna leave and give that kind of gift wrapped profit center to someone else voluntarily? "

When it's no longer a gift.

These companies are sometimes high flying startups along the lines of US firms and they require access to capital.

If their valuations are clipped by an order of magnitude because of regulatory apparatus (i.e. can't list in the US and American investors have no appetite for Chinese exchanges), then this will be a problem for a lot of businesses.

TikTok is getting big in the US and the West where margins are a lot fatter, it could feasibly make more sense for Bytedance to jump ship and become an American-based company with a Chinese workforce. Obviously that's hugely speculative but just an example.

It's like any bit of regulation it has a bunch of externalities. Some may be pretty bad for the company. Maybe, maybe not.

[itmayno]

They will either leave voluntarily or be out of business at the whim of a dictatorship literally the next day. It’s just risk vs reward here.