Zhang Lidong, Chairman of ByteDance’s China business, has stepped down from as the legal representative of Shanghai Wenxue Network Technology, the operating company of short video app Musical.ly, on April 10, local media Pingwest reported. Zhang’s position was taken by Chen Tao.
Zhang joined ByteDance in 2013 as the senior vice president and the monetization head. He has been overseeing the company’s commercialization process, developing products such as car-focused app Dongchedi, and promoting the company’s gaming business. Zhang became the chairman of ByteDance’s China business in March, overseeing non-product operations, including partnerships, strategy, public affairs, and human resources.
Musical.ly was a lip-syncing short-video app founded in Shanghai in July 2014. Targeting the North American market and quickly gained popularity among teenagers, the app claimed 100 million users only two years after its debut. ByteDance acquired Musical.ly for nearly USD 1 billion in 2018 and merged it with its own short-video platform TikTok later that year.
This article is part of KrASIA’s “China Brief” section, where KrASIA’s reporters will provide quick daily updates about the tech ecosystem in China.