Sheldon Cooper | LightRocket | Getty Pictures
GUANGZHOU, China — ByteDance founder Zhang Yiming has stepped down as chairman, as the corporate continues to reorganize its enterprise, an individual with direct information of the matter instructed CNBC.
ByteDance owns TikTok, the wildly widespread short-video app.
Zhang announced his resignation as the CEO of ByteDance in May and stated he would transfer into a method position this yr.
Liang Rubo, who took over as CEO, will now additionally take up the position as chairman.
ByteDance declined to remark when contacted by CNBC.
The transfer comes after an enormous reorganization at ByteDance this week. Shou Zi Chew, who joined ByteDance as CFO from smartphone maker Xiaomi in March, will step down from his position as finance chief to focus full time on his other job as CEO of TikTok.
The Beijing-headquartered agency has additionally created six enterprise items to concentrate on totally different areas from gaming to enterprise software program.
When Zhang introduced his plans to step down as CEO in Might, he stated in a notice to workers that he believed another person can “higher drive progress by means of areas like improved day by day administration.”
“The reality is, I lack a few of the expertise that make a great supervisor,” he stated at the moment.
ByteDance was caught within the geopolitical crosshairs final yr after the administration of President Donald Trump dubbed the corporate a nationwide safety menace and tried to force it to sell its U.S. operations. That didn’t occur ultimately.
ByteDance’s reorganization comes after plenty of reshuffles at Chinese language firms wherein founders have stepped again from their day-to-day duties.
Final week, Su Hua, the co-founder of TikTok rival Kuaishou stepped down as CEO however stayed on as chairman. And in September, Richard Liu, the founding father of e-commerce large JD.com, stepped back from day-to-day operations to concentrate on the corporate’s long-term technique.
