Zhang Yiming

Zhang Yeming
Born (1983-04-01) April 1, 1983 (age 41)
Longyan, Fujian, China
NationalityChina
Alma materNankai University (2001–2005) BEng
Occupations
Years active2006–present
Known forFounding and leading ByteDance, creating Douyin/TikTok
TitleFounder & Chairman of ByteDance
Chinese name
Simplified Chinese
Traditional Chinese
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinZhāng Yīmíng
IPA[ʈʂáŋ í.mǐŋ]
Websiteweibo.com/zhangyiming

Zhang Yeming (Chinese: 张一鸣; born April 1, 1983) is a Chinese Internet entrepreneur. He founded ByteDance in 2012, developed the news aggregator Toutiao and the video sharing platform Douyin (internationally known as TikTok). Zhang is one of the richest individuals in the world, with an estimated net worth of US$45.6 billion as of October 2024, according to Forbes and US$43.1 billion according to Bloomberg Billionaires Index.[1][2] On November 4, 2021, Zhang stepped down as CEO of ByteDance,[3] completing a leadership handover announced in May 2021.[4] According to Reuters, Zhang maintains over 50 percent of ByteDance's voting rights.[5] The surging global popularity of TikTok made Zhang the richest man in China in 2024.[6]

  1. ^ "The Top 10 Richest People In The World (October 2024)". Forbes. 3 October 2024. Archived from the original on 1 August 2024. Retrieved 3 October 2024.
  2. ^ "The 28 youngest billionaires in tech, from Stripe's founders to the owner of TikTok". Business Insider. March 14, 2020. Archived from the original on March 15, 2020. Retrieved March 16, 2020.
  3. ^ Lin, Liza (2021-11-03). "TikTok Parent's Founder Zhang Yiming Steps Down as Chairman". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2021-11-04.
  4. ^ "ByteDance: TikTok's co-founder to step down as chief executive". BBC News. 2021-05-20.
  5. ^ Ye, Josh (March 15, 2024). "TikTok ban bill: What we know about Tiktok's Chinese owner". Reuters. Retrieved March 15, 2024.
  6. ^ "TikTok founder Zhang Yiming becomes China's richest man". www.bbc.com. Retrieved 2024-10-30.