Beijing, May 20, (dpa/GNA) – The head of TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, has announced that he is stepping down from the day-to-day running of the company to focus more on its long-term strategy.
TikTok, a wildly popular short-form, video-sharing app, is the first global social media platform run out of a country other than the United States.
“The truth is, I lack some of the skills that make an ideal manager,” Zhang Yiming – who co-founded the company – wrote to employees in a letter on Wednesday, published on the company website.
By the end of the year, Zhang said he would hand the reins over to fellow co-founder Liang Rubo, who is currently the company’s personnel chief.
TikTok came into the cross-hairs of former US president Donald Trump, who imposed bans aimed at forcing the company to sell its American business to US firms. The Chinese government torpedoed the talks with sales restrictions on related software.
Trump expressed concerns at the time that US citizens’ data could fall into the hands of the Chinese authorities.
Zhang said he wants to take the time to develop new future-oriented ideas to help shape the company’s strategic direction.
“I worry that I am still relying too much on the ideas I had before starting the company, and haven’t challenged myself by updating those concepts,” he wrote.
GNA