ByteDance founder tells staff he’s shifting away from CEO’s daily work: Sources

ByteDance founder Zhang Yiming told staff on Thursday he was already shifting away from a chief executive’s daily responsibilities and his work pace was less intense, according to two people who attended the meeting.

In May, Zhang unexpectedly announced that he will step down as CEO of the TikTok owner amid Chinese’ regulators’ tightened scrutiny of the country’s biggest technology firms. He said at the time he would complete the transition work with his successor Liang Rubo by the end of this year.

Zhang told staff he was currently studying other companies’ organizational structures and managing styles, and doing research on the education industry. Zhang remains chairman of ByteDance and has the absolute voting power at the company.