Zhang Yiming

High Global Public Record

Editorial estimate, not verified fact — Disclaimer

Founder and Majority Voting Rights Holder of ByteDance

Beijing, China

Data Confidence: 72% · Sources: 1 · Last Updated: Sep 18, 2026

Net Worth ▲: $105.5B
Reach ▬: 1.0B people
Power ▲: Zhang founded ByteDance and holds over 50 percent of its voting rights, controlling a global technology enterprise valued at US$75 billion by late 2018.
Influence ▬: His platforms Toutiao and TikTok reached over one billion monthly users globally, establishing Zhang as the richest person in Asia with an estimated net worth of $105.5 billion in September 2026.
Network ▲: Zhang co-founded ByteDance alongside Liang Rubo and secured major venture backing from Susquehanna International Group and Sequoia Capital.
Legacy ▲: Zhang pioneered artificial intelligence-driven content recommendation algorithms through Toutiao and TikTok, fundamentally transforming global social media and short-video distribution.
Trajectory ▲: Rising ↑ — gaining power relative to the last assessment.

Power Trajectory

Tracked on ApexHierarchy since first profiled — not the entity's full real-world history.

Sep 8, 2026Sep 18, 2026

About

Zhang Yiming is a Chinese Internet entrepreneur who founded ByteDance in 2012, developing major digital platforms including the news aggregator Toutiao and video sharing app TikTok (Douyin). Under his leadership, ByteDance expanded globally, acquired Musical.ly for US$800 million, and reached over one billion monthly active users across its products. Zhang stepped down as CEO of ByteDance in November 2021, while maintaining over 50 percent of the company's voting rights.