New TikTok CEO is Chinese parent company ByteDance CFO Chew

Video app TikTok said Friday that its new CEO is Shouzi Chew, the new CFO of its Chinese parent company, ByteDance.

He is based in Singapore, where TikTok has an office.

Vanessa Pappas, based in Los Angeles, has been interim head of TikTok since Kevin Mayer, a former top Disney executive who lasted just a few months in the role as head of TikTok, resigned in August 2020.

Pappas will become COO.

Chew became ByteDance CFO in March. He had previously been a top executive for Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi, which went public in 2018.

TikTok’s app features short videos, many with music and dancing, made by its users that has become a favorite of younger people. Research firm eMarketer predicts that TikTok will have 73 million U.S. users this year.

TikTok had named a U.S.-based CEO last year — Mayer — amid scrutiny from President Donald Trump and his administration, which tried to ban the app based on vague national-security concerns and force a sale to Oracle and Walmart. The Biden administration has put these efforts on hold as it reviews national security threats posed by Chinese technology companies.

ByteDance CEO Yiming Zhang said in a statement that Chew will focus on “corporate governance and long-term business initiatives," while Pappas oversees manages the app's operations.

“We will continue building out our strong and deep management team as we set the stage for the next phase of TikTok’s success," Chew said.