“Since the beginning of this year, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about how to better drive real long-term breakthroughs,” Zhang wrote in a letter to employees that the company posted publicly. He added that he made the decision after several months of thinking, and decided that leaving the “day-to-day responsibilities” behind would allow him to have “greater impact on longer term initiatives.”
Byte Dance, founded by Zhang Yiming, has become one of China’s most well-known tech companies. Now, at the age of 38, he’s standing down as CEO, becoming the latest young Chinese IT entrepreneur to stand aside while managing a fast-growing firm.
Zhang, who started Tiktok owner Byte Dance in Beijing nine years ago, revealed on Wednesday that he will leave the firm at the end of the year to take on a new job and “concentrate on long-term strategy.”
Zhang’s decision to depart may seem odd, particularly when compared to the paths followed by his counterparts at Western tech firms. Byte Dance has experienced a meteoric rise over the last couple of years.
“The truth is, I lack some of the skills that make an ideal manager,” he said. “I’m not very social, preferring solitary activities like being online, reading, listening to music, and daydreaming about what may be possible.”
