May 20, 2021 Zhang Yiming, the co-founder of ByteDance, will step down at the end of the year as the CEO of the Chinese social media giant behind TikTok’s meteoric rise. Liang Rubo, another co-founder of ByteDance who is currently the head of human resources, will take Zhang’s role. In an internal letter to employees, Zhang said he came to the conclusion that by quitting the CEO role, with all of its day-to-day responsibilities, he can “have greater impact on longer-term initiatives.” Zhang said he will take a new role at the company to focus on long-term strategy, corporate culture, and social responsibility but stopped short of revealing what title he would assume. Zhang and Liang will work alongside each other for the next six months to make sure the transition goes smoothly, according to the letter.