TikTok owner ByteDance marks 10th anniversary without founder Zhang Yiming as firm’s IPO plans remain up in the air

TikTok owner ByteDance, the world’s most valuable unicorn, on Friday marked its 10th anniversary in a muted celebration that was broadcast online to its employees, an event where billionaire founder Zhang Yiming was conspicuously absent.

Chief executive Liang Rubo, who co-founded ByteDance in 2012 and took over its leadership role at the end of last year, quoted some of Zhang’s past comments in a speech to employees, whom he urged to move forward with a sense of mission to “inspire creativity, enrich life”, according to three people who attended the online event.

The heads of the company’s six business groups, including Singapore-based TikTok chief executive Chew Shou Zi, took their turns to speak after Liang, following his lead to motivate the employees, the people said.

In general, their speeches did not address any specific issues such as the company’s financial status or plans for an initial public offering, according to one of the people, who declined to be identified because the occasion was an internal event. The company’s IPO plans have been postponed until later this year, after regulatory hurdles in China are resolved, according to a report by the South China Morning Post last October, citing three people briefed on the matter.

ByteDance’s 10-year milestone comes after it announced a sweeping corporate restructuring last November, which analysts described as putting an end to the company’s aggressive expansion and heralding a new era of consolidation.