The Business of Fashion
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
ByteDance Ltd, the owner of popular short-video app TikTok and its Chinese sister-app, Douyin, said Thursday that founder and global chief executive, Zhang Yiming, would step down as CEO to focus on long-term strategy, according to a Wall Street Journal report. Co-founder, Liang Rubo, will take his place.
Zhang’s departure comes at a time of increasing regulatory pressure on Chinese tech companies, and following a year of uncertainty about TikTok’s future in the US market. In April, Shou Zi Chew, ByteDance’s chief financial officer, was named CEO of TikTok.
“I believe I can best challenge the limits of what the company can achieve over the next decade, and drive innovation, by drawing on my strengths of highly-focused learning, systematic thought, and a willingness to attempt new things,” Zhang said in a letter to employees on Thursday, which was also shared online by the company.
With consumers tightening their belts in China, the battle between global fast fashion brands and local high street giants has intensified.
Investors are bracing for a steep slowdown in luxury sales when luxury companies report their first quarter results, reflecting lacklustre Chinese demand.
The French beauty giant’s two latest deals are part of a wider M&A push by global players to capture a larger slice of the China market, targeting buzzy high-end brands that offer products with distinctive Chinese elements.
Post-Covid spend by US tourists in Europe has surged past 2019 levels. Chinese travellers, by contrast, have largely favoured domestic and regional destinations like Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan.