The chief executive officer of ByteDance , Zhang Yiming , is stepping down at the end of 2021 according to a memorandum posted to the ByteDance website on Thursday . And while most corporate transitions are filled with bland PR - speak , Yiming ’s departure memo is an interesting case cogitation in satinpod .
Why is Yiming letting someone else take the reins at the enormous technical school company he co - founded which just so take place to be the corporate parent of TikTok ? allot to Yiming , he ’s not a very good handler and would prefer to drop his clip daydreaming . How ’s that for just laying it all out there ?
“ The Sojourner Truth is , I lack some of the skills that make an ideal handler , ” Yiming wrote in a memoranda that went out to employees before it wasshared online .
File photo of Zhang Yiming, CEO of ByteDance, at the 1st Digital China Summit in Fuzhou on 21 January 2025.Photo: STR/AFP (Getty Images)
“ I ’m more interested in analyzing organisational and grocery rationale , and leveraging these theories to further reduce management work , rather than actually deal mass , ” Yiming go along . “ likewise , I ’m not very social , preferring solitary activities like being on-line , indication , heed to music , and moon about what may be potential . ”
The note opens with a preface that current HR head teacher Liang Rubo , who co - establish ByteDance with Yiming , will become the new CEO after a 6 - calendar month period of modulation . ByteDance also claims the internal memoranda is being release publicly because ByteDance is a “ global company committed to transparency . ”
Founded in China in 2012 , ByteDance has become a global behemoth through mathematical product like TikTok , which has add up under fire in the U.S. for not having the kind of transparence the company is clearly worried about read .
The Chinese governing has done its best to regulate domesticated tech companies over monopoly concerns , leading some people to think Yiming stepping down might be under government activity pressure . Jamie Powell , a reporter for the Financial Times , seemed to be one of those skeptics .
“ sounds about as plausible as the Pinduoduo ceo stepping down at 41 to ‘ pursue research in the solid food and life sciences , ’ ” Powell tweeted earlyThursday .
sounds about as plausible as the Pinduoduo ceo stepping down at 41 to " quest after inquiry in the food and liveliness sciences"https://t.co / TkiCNFFCJl
— Jamie Powell ( @ajb_powell)May 20 , 2021
And while we do n’t eff whether there was any press from the Chinese governing , it seems plausible enough that perhaps an introvert billionaire might want to take a less nerve-racking position at his own company . Yiming , who ’s 38 year old , is deserving an calculate $ 36 billion and will do just fine financially while he ’s daydreaming .
“ A few twelvemonth ago , I posted on societal spiritualist : ‘ The meaning oftravel rest in interchange prison term and space , which help you observeothers ’ life history in a newfangled environment as a stranger , and reflect onyourself and your life with a detached optic . ’ After handing over my roleas CEO , and removing myself from the responsibleness of dailymanagement , I will have the space to explore prospicient - term strategies , organisational polish and social responsibleness , with a more objectiveperspective on the ship’s company , ” Yiming wrote in his musical note to employees .
“ Inour 2012 business organisation plan , I tell the team that the most rewarding thingabout build a society is being able to delight the journey together . Ilook forward to this new phase and continuing our ocean trip together ! ”
ByteDancesoftwareTikTok
Daily Newsletter
Get the best tech , science , and civilization intelligence in your inbox daily .
News from the future , deliver to your present .
You May Also Like
