TikTok Founder Zhang Yimin Quits as CEO Saying He's Not Sociable, Hates Managing People

By Daniel Villarreal On 5/19/21 at 10:38 PM EDT

Zhang Yiming—the co-founder of ByteDance, the company that owns the video-sharing app TikTok—is stepping down as the company's chief executive officer.

"The truth is, I lack some of the skills that make an ideal manager," Zhang told employees in an internal memo issued Thursday local time. "I'm more interested in analyzing organizational and market principles, and leveraging these theories to further reduce management work, rather than actually managing people."

"Similarly, I'm not very social, preferring solitary activities like being online, reading, listening to music, and contemplating what may be possible," he continued.

tiktok founder Zheng Yimin steps down — Zhang Yimin, co-founder of ByteDance, TikTok's parent company, announced Wednesday that he was stepping down as CEO. A picture taken on January 21, 2021 in Nantes, western France shows a smartphone with the logo of Chinese social network Tik Tok. Loic Venance/Getty

This is a breaking news story and will be updated as more information becomes available.

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