ByteDance’s CEO has announced he’s stepping down from his role leading the company whose success with TikTok led it to become the world’s most valuable startup.
Zhang Yiming, who co-founded ByteDance in 2012, will
move to another position at the company, and fellow co-founder Liang Rubo will
become the new CEO. Liang presently runs HR at ByteDance. In a lengthy internal
letter that ByteDance later made public, Zhang ruminated on his position
and how he feels he’d be more effective in another role. Zhang says “I worry I
am still relying too much on the ideas I had before starting the company, and
haven’t challenged myself by updating those concepts.” “I think someone else
can better drive progress through areas like improved daily management,” he
continues. “The truth is, I lack some of the skills that make an ideal manager.
I’m more interested in analyzing organizational
and market principles, and leveraging these theories to further reduce
management work, rather than actually managing people. Similarly, I’m not very
social, preferring solitary activities like being online, reading, listening to
music, and daydreaming about what may be possible.” Zhang describes Liang as an
“invaluable partner” and started discussions about him taking over as ByteDance
CEO back in March. The transition will take place over the next six months, and
Zhang’s new role will focus on “long-term strategy, corporate culture, and
social responsibility,” according to the company.
The announcement heralds a major change for ByteDance’s corporate leadership, but it shouldn’t affect the day-to-day operations of TikTok too much. Last month ByteDance announced that former Xiaomi CFO Chew Shouzi would assume the role of dedicated TikTok CEO after having hired him in March to take over as CFO of the parent company. Chew took over from Vanessa Pappas, who was running the company on an interim basis after former Disney executive Kevin Mayer left the role less than four months into his tenure.
Mayer’s decision was because of the social network’s political
difficulties in the US, though the Trump administration’s attempts to
ban it or force a divesture ultimately fizzled out.
Source:
Vanguardnews
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