Zhang Yiming | Ticking clock for China’s tech giants Updated: Updated: May 22, 2021 22:03 IST The resignation of ByteDance’s billionaire CEO and the brain behind TikTok is only the latest in a booming tech sector now being reinedin by the Chinese government Share Article AAA The resignation of ByteDance’s billionaire CEO and the brain behind TikTok is only the latest in a booming tech sector now being reinedin by the Chinese government The announcement, very much in keeping with how Zhang Yiming has functioned for much of his life as a Chinese tech titan, was understated and simple. “The truth is I lack some of the skills that make an ideal manager,” he wrote on May 20, announcing he was stepping down as CEO in an email to the employees of ByteDance, the extraordinarily successful $180 billion tech giant — its short video app Douyin, known as TikTok outside of China, has become a global phenomenon — he founded in Beijing in 2012.