TOPIC

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Zhang Yiming

The latest news on Chinese internet entrepreneur Zhang Yiming, chairman and founder of ByteDance and Douyin/TikTok, including Chinese business news and updates.

Born

Apr 1983

Industry

Business, Technology

Job Title

Founder of ByteDance

Elon Musk in Beijing on May 14. Photo: AP

IPO

As Musk becomes first trillionaire from SpaceX IPO, will next come from China?

As the initial public offering sees Musk become the first ever trillionaire, China is also seeing growth in its tech uber-rich.

12 Jun 2026 - 7:39PM

Trending in China

Profile | Ex-China lecturer sets up luxury lingerie brand, makes US$770 million fortune

22 Mar 2026 - 6:00PM

Made in China 2025

Meow or never: China’s pudgy pets spark race for weight-loss drugs

7 Jan 2026 - 8:30AM

Huawei

ByteDance deepens robotics push with China talent drive focused on embodied AI

Tech unicorn’s cloud computing unit Volcano Engine is recruiting senior specialists for its foray into humanoid robot development.

6 Nov 2025 - 11:44PM

ByteDance unit Volcano Engine is specifically seeking humanoid specialists rather than general robotics experts. Photo: Shutterstock

Millionaires, billionaires and trillionaires

China minted a new billionaire a day last year, Hurun’s Rich List says

A record 1,434 individuals, each with a net worth of more than US$700 million, have made it onto Hurun’s list of China’s richest people.

28 Oct 2025 - 1:01PM

ByteDance

ByteDance’s higher valuation reflects resilience amid US divestment of TikTok

ByteDance has conducted employee share buy-backs since 2017, reinforcing internal confidence in the company’s long-term growth prospects.

13 Oct 2025 - 8:02PM

ByteDance

ByteDance founder Zhang Yiming makes rare appearance at Shanghai event

One of China’s richest men, Zhang says the Zhichun Innovation Centre in Shanghai continues his focus ‘on talent recruitment and development’.

10 Oct 2025 - 8:30PM

ByteDance founder Zhang Yiming speaks at the launch of the Zhichun Innovation Centre in Shanghai on Friday. Photo: Weibo

TikTok

TikTok: how a viral app navigated turbulent times to secure its place in the US

A timeline of TikTok’s journey from obscure app to viral global hit.

26 Sep 2025 - 10:39PM

Trending in China

China girl who begged with blind dad gained national profile; gets university place

Mountain girl from family with tortured history of mental illness, disability sets sights on helping others like herself.

7 Sep 2025 - 6:00PM

China consumption

Beijing urged to curb ‘free milk tea’-style cash burn in e-commerce battle

Instant retail has potential to boost domestic demand, but more government policy support needed to end excessive competition, central bank adviser says.

12 Aug 2025 - 1:32PM

Ele.me food deliveryman and a Meituan food deliveryman ride on the street on May 14, 2025 in Yancheng, Jiangsu province of China. Photo: VCG via Getty Images

Robotics

TikTok owner ByteDance debuts robotic system in latest AI development

When integrated with GR-3, the bimanual mobile robot ByteMini could insert a hanger into a shirt and hang it on a clothes rack.

24 Jul 2025 - 10:29PM

The ByteDance GR-3 model enables robots to carry out tasks such as hanging up clothes. Photo: Handout

DeepSeek

DeepSeek’s LinkedIn AI job listings show hunger for international Chinese talent

DeepSeek joins a global scramble for AI talent that includes the biggest players, from Meta and OpenAI to ByteDance and Alibaba.

4 Jul 2025 - 7:00PM

ByteDance

ByteDance pushes recruitment of fresh robotics talent as AI remains a priority

The new recruits are expected to work under ByteDance’s Seed department, which handles AI-related research and development initiatives.

1 Jul 2025 - 6:45PMvideocam

ByteDance

ByteDance founder plays critical role in firm’s AI push despite low profile

Zhang’s involvement in AI research at ByteDance was similar to the role Sergey Brin played at Google, according to local media.

23 Jun 2025 - 7:00PM

ByteDance founder Zhang Yiming poses for a photo in Palo Alto, California, on March 4, 2020. Photo: Reuters

DeepSeek

How DeepSeek founder’s doubt led serial entrepreneur to embrace his gift of gab

Founder of defunct smartphone brand Smartisan said DeepSeek’s Liang Wenfeng told him he was among the best in China at ‘earning a living by talking’.

23 Jun 2025 - 6:00PM

Xiaomi

Xiaomi founder stays on as honorary chairman at Chinese software firm

Kingsoft Office is best known for its WPS Office software, a popular local alternative to Microsoft Office.

5 Jun 2025 - 6:00PM

Electric & new energy vehicles

Digital cockpit is the key to the Russian EV buyer’s wallet, vendors say

With large screens and high-quality audio systems, Chinese cars are ready to run infotainment software Russian drivers favour, vendor says.

28 Apr 2025 - 3:44PM

US-China relations

Do China and the US need to work together on AI safety? Boao Forum debates

Artificial intelligence experts and business leaders discuss how the world can build effective governance models for all countries.

27 Mar 2025 - 6:13PMvideocam

A panel discussion at this year’s Boao Forum in Hainan, southern China looked at the global governance challenges of artificial intelligence technology. Photo: Shutterstock

Alibaba

Alibaba investors hail e-commerce giant’s AI pivot, major outlay

Alibaba’s Hong Kong-listed shares surged 15 per cent on Friday, following an 8 per cent gain overnight in New York.

21 Feb 2025 - 9:00PM

Robotics

Unitree humanoid robots, backed by Alibaba tech, delight Spring Gala show

The Lunar New Year eve broadcast saw 16 H1 robots join a troupe of human dancers in a unique performance of Chinese folk dance Yangge.

30 Jan 2025 - 1:41PMvideocam

Artificial intelligence

ByteDance in race with US rivals to drive artificial general intelligence

The Chinese unicorn’s Seed Edge programme reflects its aggressive investment strategy, as other major tech firms push their AI initiatives.

24 Jan 2025 - 7:30PM

TikTok owner ByteDance aims to tackle disruptive artificial-intelligence research. Photo: Shutterstock

Nongfu Spring

Billionaire founder of China’s Nongfu Spring pledges to end price war

Low prices are destroying the quality of Chinese products and undermining the economy, tycoon says.

24 Jan 2025 - 11:00AM

Zhong Shanshan is China’s richest man and the founder of bottled-water giant Nongfu Spring. Photo: @newmoney_gr/Instagram

ByteDance

Fund of ByteDance’s billionaire founder gets Hong Kong asset management licence

The investment fund started by the founder of the Chinese owner of TikTok now has regulatory approval to provide services to professional investors.

18 Dec 2024 - 8:00PMvideocam

ByteDance

Chinese retailer Miniso slams ByteDance-owned Douyin for exorbitant fees

This marks the second high-profile bashing of Douyin over the past several days, involving some of the wealthiest individuals in China.

29 Nov 2024 - 4:13PM

ByteDance

ByteDance earns praise from Chinese social media for denying TikTok sale

The privately held social media giant has rejected a report that said it was ‘exploring scenarios’ to sell a majority stake in TikTok’s US operations.

26 Apr 2024 - 9:00PM

TikTok

Can ByteDance have its TikTok cake and eat it too?

Caught between demands from Washington and Beijing, ByteDance has chosen the route of resistance in the US.

16 Mar 2024 - 10:49AMvideocam

TikTok

TikTok gets thumbs up in China for ‘tough stance’ against US lawmakers

Many Chinese netizens on Weibo and former Global Times editor Hu Xijin praised TikTok for urging American users to flood legislators with calls against a new bill.

11 Mar 2024 - 8:30PMvideocam

ByteDance

ByteDance values its shares higher in latest buy-back offer for staff

The firm has offered to purchase shares from staff at US$170.81 each, up nearly 7 per cent from late last year.

7 Mar 2024 - 6:30PM

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Zhang Yiming

As Musk becomes first trillionaire from SpaceX IPO, will next come from China?

As the initial public offering sees Musk become the first ever trillionaire, China is also seeing growth in its tech uber-rich.

.css-1f6sr3w{color:#727272;}Profile | Ex-China lecturer sets up luxury lingerie brand, makes US$770 million fortune

Meow or never: China’s pudgy pets spark race for weight-loss drugs

ByteDance deepens robotics push with China talent drive focused on embodied AI

Tech unicorn’s cloud computing unit Volcano Engine is recruiting senior specialists for its foray into humanoid robot development.

China minted a new billionaire a day last year, Hurun’s Rich List says

A record 1,434 individuals, each with a net worth of more than US$700 million, have made it onto Hurun’s list of China’s richest people.

ByteDance’s higher valuation reflects resilience amid US divestment of TikTok

ByteDance has conducted employee share buy-backs since 2017, reinforcing internal confidence in the company’s long-term growth prospects.

ByteDance founder Zhang Yiming makes rare appearance at Shanghai event

One of China’s richest men, Zhang says the Zhichun Innovation Centre in Shanghai continues his focus ‘on talent recruitment and development’.

TikTok: how a viral app navigated turbulent times to secure its place in the US

A timeline of TikTok’s journey from obscure app to viral global hit.

China girl who begged with blind dad gained national profile; gets university place

Mountain girl from family with tortured history of mental illness, disability sets sights on helping others like herself.

Beijing urged to curb ‘free milk tea’-style cash burn in e-commerce battle

Instant retail has potential to boost domestic demand, but more government policy support needed to end excessive competition, central bank adviser says.

TikTok owner ByteDance debuts robotic system in latest AI development

When integrated with GR-3, the bimanual mobile robot ByteMini could insert a hanger into a shirt and hang it on a clothes rack.

DeepSeek’s LinkedIn AI job listings show hunger for international Chinese talent

DeepSeek joins a global scramble for AI talent that includes the biggest players, from Meta and OpenAI to ByteDance and Alibaba.

ByteDance pushes recruitment of fresh robotics talent as AI remains a priority

The new recruits are expected to work under ByteDance’s Seed department, which handles AI-related research and development initiatives.

ByteDance founder plays critical role in firm’s AI push despite low profile

Zhang’s involvement in AI research at ByteDance was similar to the role Sergey Brin played at Google, according to local media.

How DeepSeek founder’s doubt led serial entrepreneur to embrace his gift of gab

Founder of defunct smartphone brand Smartisan said DeepSeek’s Liang Wenfeng told him he was among the best in China at ‘earning a living by talking’.

Xiaomi founder stays on as honorary chairman at Chinese software firm

Kingsoft Office is best known for its WPS Office software, a popular local alternative to Microsoft Office.

Digital cockpit is the key to the Russian EV buyer’s wallet, vendors say

With large screens and high-quality audio systems, Chinese cars are ready to run infotainment software Russian drivers favour, vendor says.

Do China and the US need to work together on AI safety? Boao Forum debates

Artificial intelligence experts and business leaders discuss how the world can build effective governance models for all countries.

Alibaba investors hail e-commerce giant’s AI pivot, major outlay

Alibaba’s Hong Kong-listed shares surged 15 per cent on Friday, following an 8 per cent gain overnight in New York.

Unitree humanoid robots, backed by Alibaba tech, delight Spring Gala show

The Lunar New Year eve broadcast saw 16 H1 robots join a troupe of human dancers in a unique performance of Chinese folk dance Yangge.

ByteDance in race with US rivals to drive artificial general intelligence

The Chinese unicorn’s Seed Edge programme reflects its aggressive investment strategy, as other major tech firms push their AI initiatives.

Billionaire founder of China’s Nongfu Spring pledges to end price war

Low prices are destroying the quality of Chinese products and undermining the economy, tycoon says.

Fund of ByteDance’s billionaire founder gets Hong Kong asset management licence

The investment fund started by the founder of the Chinese owner of TikTok now has regulatory approval to provide services to professional investors.

Chinese retailer Miniso slams ByteDance-owned Douyin for exorbitant fees

This marks the second high-profile bashing of Douyin over the past several days, involving some of the wealthiest individuals in China.

ByteDance earns praise from Chinese social media for denying TikTok sale

The privately held social media giant has rejected a report that said it was ‘exploring scenarios’ to sell a majority stake in TikTok’s US operations.

Can ByteDance have its TikTok cake and eat it too?

Caught between demands from Washington and Beijing, ByteDance has chosen the route of resistance in the US.

TikTok gets thumbs up in China for ‘tough stance’ against US lawmakers

Many Chinese netizens on Weibo and former Global Times editor Hu Xijin praised TikTok for urging American users to flood legislators with calls against a new bill.

ByteDance values its shares higher in latest buy-back offer for staff

The firm has offered to purchase shares from staff at US$170.81 each, up nearly 7 per cent from late last year.

Profile | Ex-China lecturer sets up luxury lingerie brand, makes US$770 million fortune