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Chinese firm can buy Princeton Review companies with military contracts: regulator

Tutor.com has a longstanding contract with the U.S. military

A Chinese company received U.S. regulatory approval to buy two popular test-prep companies more than a year after closing the deal.

Primavera Capital Group, a Chinese private-equity firm based in Hong Kong, bought Princeton Review and Tutor.com from Korean company ST Unitas in January 2022, The Wall Street Journal reported last week.

Primavera told The Journal the U.S. government had approved the transaction earlier this month.

Tutor.com has a longstanding relationship with the U.S. military. The U.S. government contracts the company to “provide its services free to active duty, reserve and other U.S. military service members, Defense Department personnel, and their dependents,” the Journal reported.

Tutor.com also has contracts with school districts across the country to offer homework assistance and subject-specific tutoring, according to the Journal. 

“For more than 40 years, students and their families have trusted The Princeton Review to help them get into their dream schools [colleges and universities],” according to the company’s website. “Our mission is to provide personalized, innovative, best-in-class private tutoring, test prep, and admission products and services.”

The Chinese Communist Party can compel any China-owned company to share its data

The company collects data on both users and tutors, including their names, home addresses, IP addresses and session recordings, according to the Journal.

The Chinese Communist Party can require any Chinese business entity or other organization to share its data, according to the U.S. government’s current interpretation of Chinese national security law, the Journal reported.

“Whether or not the Chinese government has demanded such data from companies, the legislation allowing it should be enough to cause concern among American regulators,” former U.S. intelligence analyst and Johns Hopkins University lecturer Elly Rostoum told The Journal.

Primavera Capital Group also owns Spring Education, which operates hundreds of private school brands, including Laurel Springs School, LePort Montessori and Basis Independent Schools, according to the Journal. 

MORE: Communist China heavily funds Harvard, Stanford, many other top universities: report

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