ByteDance Ltd. hired Xiaomi Corp.’s Chew Shou Zi as its chief financial officer, fueling speculation over the social media giant’s plans to go public.
Chew, who oversaw Xiaomi’s initial public offering as finance chief more than two years ago, tweeted Wednesday he was joining the TikTok owner in Singapore. The smartphone maker had earlier announced his departure in a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange.
Today we announced I will be leaving Xiaomi. I will be joining Bytedance as CFO in my hometown Singapore.
Thank you so much to the @Xiaomi family, and @leijun in particular for the years of guidance. pic.twitter.com/j1UyfWQwHs
Chew had overseen Xiaomi’s smartphone international expansion before his departure. ByteDance has been exploring plans to list some of its businesses including TikTok’s Chinese twin Douyin in Hong Kong, people familiar with the matter have said. The company’s revenue more than doubled to about $35 billion last year, defying heightened global competition and US attempts to ban its signature video service.
Founded by Zhang Yiming in 2012, ByteDance built TikTok into one of the most popular apps around the world, with more than 100 million users in the US alone. The startup has more than quadrupled revenue from just $8 billion in 2018 and now posts sales on par with the likes of Nike Inc. and Coca-Cola Co.
