ByteDance Co-Founder Zhang Yiming to step down as CEO, says 'I lack some skills'

Zhang Yiming, the co-founder of ByteDance, which owns TikTok, is stepping down as CEO, the company said on May 19. The company's co-founder, Liang Rubo, who is currently head of human resources, will take over as CEO of ByteDance. In the letter to the employees, Yiming recognized that he lacked the skills of an ideal manager.

"The truth is, I lack some of the skills that make an ideal manager. I'm more interested in analyzing organizational and market principles, and leveraging these theories to further reduce management work, rather than actually managing people."

Zhang Yiming to step down

Zhang in the memo expressed that he is more interested in analyzing organizational and market principles and leveraging these theories to further reduce management work. He added that he is not "very social, preferring solitary activities like being online, reading, listening to music, and daydreaming about what may be possible". In the memo, Zhang talked about Liang's role at ByteDance as "invaluable" as he helped in promoting the company's technology and hiring and managing people. ByteDance said Zhang and Liang will work side by side over the next six months to ensure a smooth transition.

He said the decision is based upon months of deliberation and he believed that he would have a greater impact on ByteDance's longer-term initiatives if moved out of the CEO role. Zhang in the letter has mentioned the time from graduating from college to starting ByteDance. He spent a lot of time in thinking and learning about challenges like effectively disseminating information, using technology to improve products, and approaching the development of a company. He in the letter to the employees said that they need to improve to better

There are still many things that we need to improve, and I think someone else can better drive progress through areas like improved daily management.