Zhang Yiming has stepped down as chair months after resigning as CEO
ByteDance has come under fire from regulators seeking to rein in its once-freewheeling internet industry.ByteDance chair Zhang Yiming. Picture: SHANNON STAPLETON/REUTERS
Zhang, 38, will still be involved in formulating the Chinese tech firm’s longer-term strategy, the person said, asking to not be identified discussing private matters.The world’s most valuable start-up is making a bigger push into enterprise software after Beijing’s yearlong crackdown on the consumer internet and this week announced it was restructuring into six business units.
“Zhang Yiming is making good on his wishes to spend his time focusing on things outside ByteDance’s current business,” said Rui Ma, a former tech banker and investor who’s now founder of podcast Tech Buzz China. “The restructuring is necessary streamlining and cutting the fat, because they were frankly becoming bloated.”
In China, ByteDance has come under fire from regulators seeking to rein in its once-freewheeling internet industry. While ByteDance isn’t the target of any official probe — unlike peers Alibaba Group Holding and Meituan — the start-up was among more than two dozen firms ordered by the tech industry ministry to carry out internal inspections and root out illegal online activity earlier in 2021.
In the wake of the clampdown, ByteDance is pivoting away from content and entertainment to better align with Beijing’s priorities. The newly formed Lark unit — named after its Slack-style work app — will offer office collaboration tools like video conferencing and contract management. Its cloud arm — the backbone of Douyin and TikTok’s algorithm recommendations — will become more open to external enterprise clients.
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