Zhang Yiming is stepping down from his role as the CEO and passing the torch to Liang Rubo, another co-founder of the TikTok, the company disclosed on Thursday.
Zhang will move to a “key strategy” position at the end of this year, ByteDance said in a statement.
Zhang wrote in the memo that he concluded after several months of deliberation that he would have a greater impact on ByteDance’s longer-term initiatives if he transitioned out of the CEO role.
“The truth is, I lack some of the skills that make an ideal manager. I’m more interested in analyzing organizational and market principles, and leveraging these theories to further reduce management work, rather than actually managing people,” Zhang wrote.
“Similarly, I’m not very social, preferring solitary activities like being online, reading, listening to music, and contemplating what may be possible,” he added.
Zhang’s decision to step down comes less than a month after ByteDance named its chief financial officer Shouzi Chew as CEO of TikTok.
ByteDance currently employs more than 100,000 people globally.
