Douyin CEO Kelly Zhang steps down as head of TikTok’s Chinese version to focus on ByteDance video editor CapCut and AI

Zhang, who joined ByteDance in 2014, has relinquished her role as head of Douyin, ByteDance CEO Liang Rubo announced on Wednesday
Zhang will move to a new role focusing on video-editing app CapCut, as AI is expected to transform the field of content creation, Liang says

ByteDance

Karen Chiu

Published: 3:30pm, 7 Feb 2024

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Kelly Zhang Nan, the most powerful woman in ByteDance, has stepped down as CEO of the Douyin business unit that includes the Chinese version of TikTok, as well as other signature products such as news aggregator Jinri Toutiao.

Citing “business development needs and personal preferences”, Zhang will focus on CapCut, a video-editing and graphic design app, according to an internal letter sent by ByteDance CEO Liang Rubo on Wednesday and seen by the Post.

“Artificial intelligence (AI) technology will substantially disrupt content creation and even give birth to new content creation platforms,” Liang wrote. “We hope to actively explore, fully understand and seize the opportunity.”

A ByteDance representative confirmed that Zhang had relinquished her role as chief executive of Douyin, adding that the company was grateful for her leadership.

The Douyin logo seen at a ByteDance building in Beijing. Photo: EPA-EFE

ByteDance has no immediate plans to fill the vacant role, according to a person familiar with the matter, who declined to be named because they are not authorised to speak to the media.

Born in the 1980s, according to Chinese media reports, Zhang joined ByteDance in 2014 and was promoted as head of the company’s China business in March 2020.

Her latest internal move comes amid ByteDance’s intensifying efforts to explore new opportunities in generative AI, which has drawn global attention after US start-up OpenAI launched its conversational bot ChatGPT in late 2022.

The rapid development of large language models – the technology that underpins ChatGPT and similar chatbots – has sparked a new wave of AI-powered content creation apps, such as image generator Midjourney and video generator Pika Labs.

In an all-hands meeting last week, ByteDance CEO Liang berated employees for “not being sensitive enough” to emerging technologies and “lacking a sense of crisis”. He said one of the company’s priorities in 2024 would be to stay “always day-one”, referring to the need for the unicorn to keep up with its entrepreneurial spirit.

Why the secret AI sauce behind TikTok is such a vital ingredient

ByteDance’s content recommendation system has long been regarded in the industry as the secret behind the global success of TikTok and a successful use case of AI.

However, the company did not launch its chatbots Doubao and Cici AI until the second half of 2023, after Baidu and Alibaba Group Holding, owner of the Post, rolled out rival services earlier that year.

Last week, ByteDance introduced Coze, a platform similar to OpenAI’s GPTs, which allows users to customise its chatbot for specific tasks.

After Zhang’s move, Han Shangyou, business chief of Douyin since December 2022, and Zhang Chao, the executive in charge of Jinri Toutiao and online literature site Tomato Novel, will report to Zhang Lidong, chairman of ByteDance’s mainland business.

Additional reporting by Coco Feng