Co-founder of one the world’s most valuable start-ups, Byte Dance, Zhang Yiming has announced his resignation from the post of CEO.
The company reached its highest point with the success of TikTok, under the leadership of Zhang Yiming.
However, after announcing his resignation, also stated that he will in fact be moving onto another position within the company, leaving the leadership role in the hands of fellow co-founder Liang Rubo.
“I worry I am still relying too much on the ideas I had before starting the company and haven’t challenged myself by updating those concepts”, Zhang says in an internal letter, which also listed other reasons as to why he feels he isn’t suited well enough for the managerial role.”
Even though this change in corporate leadership is a major move, it will not however, hamper the day-to-day operational activities of TikTok.
Discussions about Liang Rubo taking over as CEO had started in March itself and Zhang described Rubo as an “invaluable partner”.
Byte Dance stated that the transition would gradually happen over the time span of the next six months. The company said that the focus of Zhang’s role would now shift to “long-term strategy, corporate culture and social responsibility”.
Zhang feels he would be more effective in this role.