Can TikTok’s new CEO save Gen Z’s favourite app in the US? Singapore’s Shou Zi Chew graduated from Harvard, interned at Facebook and worked for Xiaomi
TikTok has a new boss, with Singaporean native Shou Zi Chew recently appointed as chief executive officer of the popular video-sharing app. This announcement was made eight months after Chew’s predecessor, Kevin Mayer, stepped down from the top job.
Chew, who also serves as chief financial officer of TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, is sure to come under scrutiny – so here are five interesting facts to know about the 38-year-old tech executive.
A Harvard graduate
Goldman Sachs and Xiaomi had him first
While it is quite surprising to discover that Chew was once an intern at Facebook, it is not the only huge company that he worked for before coming on board at ByteDance and TikTok. The Singaporean exec started his career at Goldman Sachs. He then played an instrumental role in the success of Xiaomi as CFO, and later on, as president of the gadget giant’s international business.
Off the market
Chew’s personal life seems just as successful as his professional life. He is married to his equally successful wife Vivian Kao, who also graduated from HBS in 2010. The pair hit it off in the summer after their first year at HBS, while both were completing their internships in California. Since graduation, both have continued to support their alma mater with donations and Kao has joined the HBS Alumni Board.
He grew up in Singapore but has lived in various cities
The Chew family is currently based in Singapore, but that hasn’t always been the case. The TikTok CEO and his better half have lived in different parts of the world including London, Hong Kong and Beijing. Chew, who grew up in Singapore, is unsurprisingly fluent in Mandarin and English, two of the country’s official languages.
What can we expect from TikTok’s future with Chew at the helm?
Chew’s impressive resume and experience in China and abroad will stand him in good stead but observers believe his term will not be a walk in the park. Not only is he taking on one of the biggest jobs in tech but it’s still not certain how the new US administration will resolve the stand-off it inherited from the former president.
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Trump claimed TikTok was a security risk and pushed it towards divestment of its US operations, but a broad review of Chinese-owned apps requested by Biden has put any concrete developments on hold for now. Marcus Breen, director of the media laboratory at the communication department of Boston College said TikTok has a chance to navigate the murky waters of Washington, “if Shou Zi Chew can manage to sustain the impression that TikTok is in fact [simply] an entertainment platform for use by young people”.
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- His predecessor Kevin Mayer stepped down after Donald Trump labelled TikTok a US security risk – will Chew be able to save Gen Z’s beloved media-sharing app?
- ByteDance founder Zhang Yiming has no doubts about the incoming CEO, saying that Chew and new COO Vanessa Pappas ‘set the stage for sustained growth’