TikTok owner ByteDance appoints China leaders, targets 100,000 global headcount
- ByteDance founder and global chief executive Zhang Yiming will focus on the company’s international expansion plans
ByteDance, owner of global hit short video app TikTok, on Thursday appointed new heads for its China business and set a goal to nearly double its global headcount to 100,000 by the end of the year.
The eight-year-old start-up, which was valued at US$78 billion in its latest financing round, currently has more than 60,000 employees across 30 countries.
The Beijing-based company said in a statement that it has named monetisation head Zhang Lidong as chairman of its China business, overseeing the non-product operations, including strategy and monetisation, in its home market.
Kelly Zhang Nan, the head of Chinese short video app Douyin, will serve as chief executive of ByteDance’s China business, responsible for product operations, including Chinese news aggregator Jinri Toutiao, Douyin and Xigua Video, the company said.
Both executives will report to ByteDance founder and global chief executive Zhang Yiming, who will shift his focus to the firm’s international expansion plans, according to the statement.