ByteDance boss to step down in big shake-up at TikTok owner

Zhang Yiming, co-founder of TikTok owner ByteDance, informed personnel of the Chinese technological innovation giant in a memo that he will stage down as chief govt, the organization disclosed on Thursday.

He will be succeeded by co-founder Rubo Liang. The go, first noted by Reuters, represents the most important company shake-up at ByteDance since its start in 2012. The organization grew to turn into a dominant social media drive in China and turned TikTok into a world feeling.

Mr Zhang wrote that Mr Liang, who was Bytedance’s head of human means, experienced been “an priceless associate”, advancing the firm’s technological innovation and choosing and handling people today. He extra that he would operate with Mr Liang about the future six months to assure a easy transition.

Mr Zhang stated that just after many months of deliberation he concluded that he would have a bigger influence on ByteDance’s lengthier-expression initiatives if he transitioned out of the chief govt job.

“The truth is, I lack some of the competencies that make an suitable supervisor. I am more fascinated in analysing organisational and industry concepts, and leveraging these theories to more lower administration operate, alternatively than basically handling people today,” Mr Zhang wrote.

“In the same way, I am not incredibly social, preferring solitary pursuits like getting online, examining, listening to music and thinking about what may possibly be achievable,” he extra.

Mr Zhang’s choice to stage down arrives a lot less than a month after ByteDance named its chief financial officer Shouzi Chew as chief govt of TikTok.

TikTok has sought to distance itself from Beijing just after the United States elevated countrywide stability concerns about the basic safety of the private data it handles.

Previous US president Donald Trump’s administration sought to force ByteDance to divest regulate of the app. A US plan to promote TikTok’s American operations to a consortium that involved Oracle Corp and Walmart Inc languished, on the other hand, after ByteDance launched successful legal problems.