Kuaishou founder’s exit adds to the queue of tech CEOs who have quit in 2021 as regulatory pressure mounts on short video industry

Su Hua joins a growing list of Chinese tech billionaires who have chosen to remove themselves from the limelight this year after becoming super-rich

Su will remain as the chairman of Kuaishou but his departure from the CEO role comes at a time when the short video industry in China is facing a regulatory storm

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Su Hua, a former Google engineer, has lived a typical rags-to-riches story in China. Photo: VCG via Getty Images

Published: 7:00am, 2 Nov 2021

Su Hua’s surprising resignation from the CEO position of Kuaishou Technology reflects the struggle for China’s No. 2 biggest short video operator amid an ever-changing regulatory and market landscape, analysts said.

Su, a 39-year-old self-made Chinese billionaire who has been the CEO of Kuaishou from day one, stepped down from the frontline role on Friday, leaving the day-to-day operation of his short video business empire to his long-term partner Cheng Yixiao.

By doing so, Su has joined a growing list of Chinese tech billionaires who have chosen to remove themselves from the limelight this year after becoming super-rich at a relatively young age. Zhang Yiming, the founder of TikTok operator ByteDance, stepped down as CEO at the age of 38, while Pinduoduo founder and former CEO Colin Huang Zheng stepped aside at 41 from his e-commerce empire.

Although Su will remain as the chairman of Kuaishou to focus on strategic planning and new initiatives, his departure from the CEO role comes at a time when the short video industry in China is facing a regulatory storm.

China imposed regulations on live-streaming in its 10-year national guidelines on children’s development published in September, saying that operators who provide online services – including games, live streaming, audio and video streaming, as well as social networks – should limit the time and money minors spend online.

The Chinese government has also drafted rules to regulate algorithms to filter out content that the state deems inappropriate. Kuaishou, which remains popular among Chinese grassroots users, has been blamed by its critics for spreading lowbrow and vulgar content.