TikTok owner ByteDance on the hunt for new chairman after founder steps down
The founder of Bytedance, which owns Tiktok, has stepped down from his role as chairman amid major organisational shifts at the tech giant, according to reports.
Chinese billionaire and entrepreneur Zhang Yiming founded Bytedance in 2021 alongside college roommate Liang Rubo, the new Bytedance CEO who took up the role earlier this year after Yiming resigned from the position to take up a strategy role at the firm instead, according to CNBC, which first reported the news.
Rubo will now also act as chairman while the company undergoes a massive shake-up this week which has seen Bytedance’s chief financial officer, Shou Zi Chew, also step down to focus his attention exclusively on his role as CEO of TikTok, the popular short-video app.
The upheavals to the tech behemoth follows news of another major change at Bytedance, which announced plans to create six new business units to hone in on specialist areas like gaming and enterprise software.
It also comes amid a spate of Chinese tech founders relinquishing their high-profile roles in recent months, as Chinese regulators continue a crackdown on large companies.
The co-founder of short-video apps owner Kuaishou, Su Hua, last week stepped down as CEO.