ByteDance (BDNCE) is experiencing a leadership shift as Kelly Zhang resigns as the CEO of Douyin Group, the sister app of TikTok. Reuters reported that Zhang will be taking on a new role at ByteDance’s video editing app.
Zhang made the announcement on her personal social media account on WeChat, signaling a significant change within ByteDance. Han Shangyou, now in charge of day-to-day operations at Douyin, will be reporting to ByteDance China Chairman Zhang Lidong, as reported by Bloomberg News.
Zhang’s new role at Jianying, ByteDance’s video editing app, reflects a shift towards bolstering artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities. In a memo to employees, CEO Liang Rubo emphasized ByteDance’s commitment to understand and leverage AI to revolutionize content creation and introduce new creative tools.
Jianying, ByteDance’s counterpart to the editing app CapCut, has been gaining traction. Data.ai reported that CapCut recently became ByteDance’s second app to exceed $100M in total consumer spending, boasting over 490 million users.
With a decade-long tenure at ByteDance, Zhang’s leadership extended beyond Douyin. She previously oversaw ByteDance’s flagship news aggregator app, Toutiao, and also played a pivotal role in the acquisition of photo-sharing app Tuba by ByteDance in 2014.