Cover Story: How Chinese Apartment Rental Giant’s Business Fell Apart

The financial turmoil that crippled Danke Apartment, one of China’s largest online apartment rental platforms, spilled into the streets across China in recent weeks as angry tenants clashed with landlords.

Now employees are threatening to sue Danke, whose name means “eggshell” in Chinese, over unpaid wages. Danke faces disputes over 3.4 billion yuan ($520 million) of unpaid debts, including 1.6 billion yuan of loans from Tencent-backed WeBank, 1.2 billion yuan owed landlords and renters, and 600 million yuan due contractors, Caixin learned.