Jaka
Let’s clarify right away. Above you’ll find some tidbits on the disparity between a founder and a CEO. To be specific, the founder possesses ownership of the company. For TikTok, that person would be Zhang Yiming.
Although the CEO holds the highest leadership position, they are not the owner of the company. Shou Zi Chew is currently serving as TikTok’s CEO, responsible for managing the company and answering to the owner, who is none other than Zhang Yiming.
Profile and Personal Data of Zhang Yiming
Name: Zhang Yiming
Date of Birth: April 1, 1983, Longyan, Fujian, China
Age: 41 (article written in 2024)
Education: Nankai University (2001 – 2005)
Known As: Founder of TikTok or Douyin, Founder of ByteDance
Wealth: US$43.4 billion or Rp 674.4 trillion
Wife: Zhang Tong
Religion: Unknown
Zhang Yiming’s Career Journey Prior to Establishing TikTok
Zhang Yiming, born in 1983, is the mastermind behind TikTok. Prior to his entrepreneurial success, Zhang started as an engineer at Kuxun.com, a travel search website.
Zhang, a former engineer at Fanfou, co-founded the property search site 99fang.com, which unfortunately failed three years later. Prior to that, he worked briefly at Microsoft but left due to the high levels of pressure. However, he returned to the Fanfou startup under the leadership of Wang Xing.
Zhang Yiming established ByteDance, a Chinese tech firm, in 2012. As per Statista, ByteDance ranks fifth among global IT companies. Just 3 months later, Zhang created Jinri Toutiao, which is now China’s leading general news app.
In 2014, Zhang delved into video sharing apps and birthed Douyin and Xigua Video. With over 600 million daily users, Douyin’s Chinese equivalent of TikTok reigns supreme. Xigua Video, on the other hand, stands as one of China’s most prominent platforms for medium to long video sharing with an uncertain future.
Zhang Yiming took TikTok beyond China in 2017, with overwhelming international reception despite minor hitches in Indonesia. Today, we cherish TikTok as much as Facebook and Instagram.
In 2021, Zhang stepped down from his role as chairman and CEO of ByteDance after facing pressure from the Chinese government. As of now, Liang Rubo serves as the current CEO, having taken over the position from Zhang earlier this year.
Learn from the career journey of Zhang Yiming, founder of TikTok, and let his inspiring story guide you towards achieving similar success.