ByteDance founder to step down as CEO, hand over to college roommate

Zhang Yiming will step down as chief executive of TikTok-owner ByteDance, leaving the task of navigating a rising number of Big Tech regulations worldwide to college roommate, long-time colleague and current human resources head Liang Rubo.

In an employee memo on Thursday - first reported by Reuters and later disclosed by the firm - Zhang said the change would "enable me to have greater impact on longer-term initiatives". He will move to a "key strategy" position at the end of the year, ByteDance said in a statement.