ByteDance Founder Zhang Yiming to Step Down as CEO
ByteDance Ltd.’s co-founder Zhang Yiming announced that he will step down as CEO, signaling a major leadership shake-up at the 9-year-old technology firm that created global short-video sensation TikTok. The billionaire entrepreneur will be replaced by Liang Rubo, ByteDance’s head of human resources, according to a memo from Zhang published on the company’s blog. Zhang will remain at ByteDance, where he will focus on “longer-term initiatives” after stepping back from day-to-day responsibilities, he wrote. He did not say whether he would remain chairman of the firm, nor specify what form his new role would take, but hinted that he may focus on social impact. Read more Caixin Global
China Box Office: ‘F9’ Nabs $9.2M In Midnight Previews
F9 began its overseas roll-out on Wednesday with $3.4 million in South Korea. It earned another $860,000 for a $4.27 million two-day cume heading into the conventional Fri-Sun weekend. However, the big news, as expected, is in China. The last four installments of the “Fast Saga” ($66 million in 2013, $392 million in 2015, $392 million in 2017 and $200 million in 2019) have earned $1.05 billion thus far. Hopes are high that F9 will make enough in the world’s biggest moviegoing marketplace (since North America is still recovering) to offset some of the likely domestic downturn for when the film opens here on June 25. Read more Forbes