ByteDance said to appoint new R&D head at TikTok as US-China tension eases

Zhu Wenjia, who currently leads ByteDance news aggregator Jinri Toutiao, will supervise TikTok’s product and technologies

With a new US administration, ByteDance is planning new moves for TikTok’s China sibling, Douyin, including a potential New York listing

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ByteDance is reportedly moving the chief of news aggregator Jinri Toutiao to Singapore to head global research and development at TikTok. Photo: Getty Images

Published: 2:31pm, 25 Feb 2021Updated: 2:31pm, 25 Feb 2021

TikTok owner ByteDance plans to appoint Zhu Wenjia, the head of its Chinese news aggregator Jinri Toutiao, to lead research and development for the popular short video-sharing app, according to a Reuters report on Thursday, citing two anonymous sources.

Zhu, a former Baidu executive who joined ByteDance in 2015, will oversee TikTok’s product and technologies, including its recommendation algorithm, known as the “secret sauce” behind the app’s viral success. He will move to Singapore from Beijing, according to the report.

As with TikTok’s interim head, Vanessa Pappas, Zhu will report directly to ByteDance founder and chief executive Zhang Yiming. TikTok’s international operations are managed separately from its domestic sibling app, Douyin, which is supervised by Kelly Zhang Nan, the chief of ByteDance’s China business.

ByteDance declined to comment on Thursday.

Zhang Yiming, founder and CEO of ByteDance, at the company's headquarters in Beijing, China, on August 17, 2017. Photo: Bloomberg

The appointment marks another major personnel change at the Beijing-based company after Kevin Mayer, formerly The Walt Disney Company’s top streaming executive, resigned from his job as TikTok’s CEO last August following a three-month stint.

Mayer’s abrupt departure came during the peak of US political backlash against the short video app. Under the Trump administration, TikTok was pressured to divest its US business from its Chinese owner to address concerns over the safety of American user data and avoid a ban of the app.

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