Skadden, Widyawan & Partners and Davis Polk are advising on TikTok’s strategic move to re-establish its presence in the Indonesian e-commerce market via a USD1.5 billion acquisition of GoTo’s online shopping platform Tokopedia.
Skadden’s head of corporate practice in Asia (excluding Japan), Jonathan Stone, and co-head of China practice, Li Haiping, led the team advising the short-form video platform on international law.
Widyawan, an Indonesian associate firm of Linklaters, is advising TikTok on Indonesian law, led by partner Teguh Arwiko.
Davis Polk’s co-head of Asia practice (excluding Japan), Miranda So, led the team acting as international counsel to GoTo.
The agreement between TikTok and GoTo involves the acquisition of a 75.01% stake in the Indonesian subsidiary, Tokopedia. The deal also involves integration of TikTok Shop’s e-commerce operations with Tokopedia, which will initially undergo a pilot phase, overseen by local regulators, before full implementation.
Indonesia, with 125 million users, is the second-largest market for TikTok after the US. Despite launching an e-commerce platform TikTok Shop in 2021, the short-form video platform faced a setback when the Indonesian government prohibited the trading of goods on social platforms to safeguard small businesses and user data, prompting its closure in October. However, this new strategic partnership with GoTo, will see TikTok poised to return to the Indonesian e-commerce landscape.
