ByteDance founder Zhang Yiming will step down as chief executive of the group behind popular video app TikTok, in the latest retreat from the limelight by a Chinese tech leader as Beijing cracks down on the industry.
Zhang, 38, founded ByteDance almost a decade ago and steered the Beijing-based group that has developed hit apps including TikTok and its sister Chinese platform Douyin through a period of US-China tensions.
ByteDance said Zhang would step down as chief executive at the end of the year and would be replaced by co-founder and head of human resources Liang Rubo. ByteDance did not say if Zhang would remain on as chair.
The transition comes as the company mulls an initial public offering, with its shares recently trading hands at a valuation of more than $200bn in private markets, according to people familiar with the matter.
“Since the beginning of this year, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about how to better drive real long-term breakthroughs, which cannot simply rely on steady, but incremental, progress,” Zhang wrote in a company blog post.
Zhang said he would work on “longer-term initiatives” and help “drive innovation, by drawing on my strengths of highly-focused learning”.
“The truth is, I lack some of the skills that make an ideal manager,” Zhang wrote. “I’m more interested in analysing…
