Zhang Yiming, who helped found TikTok’s Chinese parent company and turn it into a globe-straddling internet giant, will step down as its chief executive at the end of the year to focus on long-term strategy, he wrote in a letter to employees dated Wednesday.
Mr. Zhang’s co-founder and head of human resources, Liang Rubo, will take the reins as chief executive at the parent company, ByteDance, which also owns a slew of other entertainment apps and web platforms in China and other countries.
Mr. Zhang, 38, is stepping away from day-to-day management at a time when China’s government is ramping up its scrutiny of big internet firms like ByteDance, leading other tech bosses to try to keep a low profile.
ByteDance, founded in 2012, is China’s first truly global internet company. With TikTok, it has achieved a level of commercial success and cultural influence that none of the country’s other tech powerhouses have managed outside China’s borders.
India, previously one of TikTok’s largest markets, banned the video app last year, citing national security. Under President Donald J. Trump, the White House threatened to do similarly, though court challenges stymied that plan. ByteDance and Mr. Zhang have held talks with Oracle and other suitors about selling TikTok to assuage the U.S. government’s concerns about the app’s Chinese ownership. No such sale has taken place.
