Co-founder ByteDance is stepping down as CEO

Zhang Yiming, the co-founder of the Chinese technology company ByteDance, is stepping down as CEO. This is evident from an internal letter addressed to employees of the company. The man would like to focus more on long-term strategy, corporate culture and social responsibilities.

The letter states that Yiming does not consider himself sufficiently suitable to function as a manager. “I lack some of the skills that an ideal manager should possess. In addition, I am more interested in the analysis of organizational and market-related theories. I want to use these theories to ease the work of management rather than effectively manage staff,” said Yiming .

Yiming also states that it was difficult for him to keep up with developments in the field of machine learning. “While I do my best to bookmark technical articles online, I don’t fail to delve into it. During technology meetings, I also found myself struggling to keep track of the content of certain conversations,” Yiming wrote.

Zhang Yiming will hand over the torch to co-founder Liang Rubo, the current head of human resources at ByteDance, who has been reflecting on his role in the company since March this year. The transfer will take place in six months. According to the company, this should ensure a smooth transition.

At the beginning of this month, it was also announced that Chew Shou Zi will be the new CEO of the social media platform TikTok. TikTok is a subsidiary of ByteDance. Shou Zi takes over from former Disney manager Kevin Mayer, who resigned in the middle of last year due to, among other things, the political struggles the man experienced with the administration of former US President Donald Trump.