Who is Zhang Yiming?
Zhang Yiming is a Chinese internet entrepreneur who founded ByteDance, the company behind TikTok, its Chinese version Douyin and the news app Toutiao. He stepped down as CEO in 2021 but keeps majority voting control, and became the richest person in China in 2024.
Early life and education
Zhang was born in Fujian province in 1983. He studied at Nankai University in Tianjin, first microelectronics and then software engineering, graduating in 2005.
Early career
He worked at the travel search start-up Kuxun, briefly at Microsoft, and then at the microblogging site Fanfou, before founding a real estate search site. These jobs taught him how to build products that use data to match people with content.
Career highlights
- ByteDance (2012): founded the company in Beijing.
- Toutiao (2012): a news app that used machine learning to personalise each user’s feed.
- Douyin (2016): a short-video app that became hugely popular in China.
- TikTok (2017): the international version, which merged with Musical.ly in 2018 and spread worldwide.
Major achievements
TikTok became one of the most downloaded apps in the world, and its recommendation feed changed how social media works, influencing rivals such as Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts.
Expertise
Zhang’s core strength is using recommendation algorithms to show each person content they are likely to enjoy, rather than relying on who they follow.
Leadership and challenges
ByteDance has faced scrutiny in several countries over data security and its Chinese ownership, especially in the United States and India.
Current work
After handing over the CEO role to Liang Rubo in 2021, he has kept a low public profile while remaining involved in ByteDance’s long-term strategy.
How the TikTok algorithm changed social media
Before TikTok, most social networks showed posts from people you already followed. ByteDance’s apps instead studied what each user watched, liked and skipped, then served a never-ending “For You” feed of videos from anyone. This meant new creators could reach millions of viewers quickly, and users discovered content they would never have searched for. The model proved so successful that YouTube, Instagram and Facebook all added similar short-video feeds.
Timeline: key moments
- 1983Born in Fujian, China
- 2005Graduates from Nankai University
- 2012Founds ByteDance; launches Toutiao
- 2016Launches Douyin
- 2017Launches TikTok internationally
- 2018Merges Musical.ly into TikTok
- 2021Steps down as CEO
- 2024Becomes China’s richest person
Zhang Yiming built ByteDance on the idea that algorithms can match people with content, and changed social media worldwide.
