ByteDance CFO steps down to focus on TikTok CEO role in a significant reorganization

ByteDance’s CFO Shou Zi Crew will step down to take over as CEO of TikTok amidst a major reorganization.

TikTok’s parent company ByteDance’s chief financial officer, will step down from his role to focus on his role as the CEO of the short video sharing app, as per the internal memo shared by the company. The move comes after ByteDance put a hold on its plan to go public in April, and it had no imminent plans to go public on either the Hong Kong or New York stock exchange.

In March, Shou Zi Chew joined ByteDance as CFO from Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi and was appointed as the CEO of the short video app TikTok in May.

The memo, which ByteDance co-founder Liang Rubo shared with the staff, also outlined a major reshuffle at the Beijing-based company to create six new business units. The six units are TikTok, work collaboration unit Lark, Douyin, gaming unit Nuverse, education tech unit Dali, and business services unit BytePlus.

This is the most significant organizational change since ByteDance co-founder Zhang Yiming announced his decision to step down as CEO in May. Zhang remains chairman and still holds more than 50% voting rights. Liang Rubo will officially take over from Zhang as CO in December.