Zhang Yiming, co-founder of ByteDance, who owns the hugely popular TikTok video clip app, surprisingly announced his resignation from CEO to move to a new role by the end of the year focusing on “long-term strategy” .
Zhang, 38, with pioneering use of artificial intelligence and an extraordinary flair for youth trends, revolutionized Internet video, leading the rise of ByteDance to one of the most valuable hi-tech companies in the world. , with both TikTok and Mandarin twin Douyin, as well as Jinri Toutiao news aggregation app and Lark productivity app, which offers cloud storage, chat and calendar functions. ByteDance’s success as China’s first truly global app maker has turned Zhang into a target at home and abroad amid pressure from former US President Donald Trump’s administration to convince the world that TikTok would never deliver. data of its users to the Communist Party of China, while protecting its image on the domestic front by not giving the impression of giving in to the demands of the West.
ByteDance is now in the care of friend and roommate from Nankai University of North China, Liang Rubo, current HR manager and co-founder of the company in 2012. Zhang wrote a very personal message to the employees.
“The truth is that I lack some of the skills that make an ideal manager. I’m more interested in analyzing organizational and market principles than actually managing people, “he wrote, saying he was also” unsociable, preferring solitary activities such as being online, reading, listening to music and fantasizing about what might be possible ” , Daydreaming”.
Under pressure in the US, Zhang had to defend himself even at home where the central government has launched a squeeze on the booming hi-tech, imposing fines, even on ByteDance, on charges of violating anti-monopoly rules as a heavy warning to the giants of the Internet. TikTok has approximately one billion users worldwide, including over 100 million in the United States, while ByteDance has more than 60,000 employees in over 30 countries. and last year Zhang said they were trying to recruit another 40,000.
With a net worth of $ 36 billion, Zhang is the fifth richest person in China, according to Forbes. His decision to divest management of the company follows similar moves by other tech moguls, including Colin Huang of e-commerce giant Pinduoduo, who stepped down from board of directors in March eight months after stepping down as CEO. Zhang’s departure comes weeks after Shouzi Chew was appointed CEO of TikTok that TikTok replaces Kevin Mayer who left last year. The arrival of Chew, who as Xiaomi’s CFO had engineered one of the largest Chinese tech listings on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, prompted rumors of an upcoming IPO. According to financial magazine Caixin, ByteDance shares were privately trading at levels that estimated the company to be around $ 300 billion in mid-April.