Winnie Muriuki

· 19 Nov 2021

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Who Owns TikTok?

TikTok is a social media platform that originated in China. As a matter of fact, there is a Chinese version of TikTok called Douyin. It focuses on videos only, and that makes it unique. Users are at liberty to share videos with lengths between 15 seconds and 3 minutes.



Most TikTok users know these facts about this platform. However, there are high chances that they have no idea about how TikTok came about? Others don’t know who owns TikTok. Fortunately, this article discusses these topics. So, without further ado, let’s get started.

The Owner of TikTok
TikTok is an idea that saw the light of the day thanks to ByteDance. The Chinese-based company is multinational, and its focus is on internet headquarters. On the other hand, its headquarters are in Beijing.

The company was founded in 2012 by a team including Zhang Yiming and Liang Rubo. Before that, in 2009, to be precise, the two collaborated to form a search engine by the name 99fang.com that focused on real estate. In early 2012, Toutiao came into existence before founding the ByteDance later that year.

Currently, Zhang Yiming serves as its chairman as well as CEO. Roland Cloutier is its global CSO (Chief Security Officer), whereas Erich Andersen is the international GC (General Counsel). Kelly Zhang and Lidong Zhang are the CEO and Chairman of ByteDance China, respectively.

Initially, ByteDance first created a version of TikTok strictly for the Chinese market. Its name is Douyin, and that version still exists up to date. Equally important, it has more advanced features than TikTok, including e-commerce.

It is also important to note that they are not the only apps owned by ByteDance. On the contrary, the tech company also owns other popular products, including Resso, Helo, Vigo Video, BuzzVideo, and Toutiao.

The History of TikTok
Before the emergence of TikTok, there were several things that ByteDance had undertaken. First of all, there was the development of Douyin, which is the Chinese version of TikTok. Secondly, the company acquired Flipagram. Additionally, it acquired Musical.ly for 1 billion US dollars. All that combination led to the introduction of TikTok in 2018 on 2nd August.

TikTok Today
TikTok has registered impressive progress worth mentioning. For instance, the app has more than 2 billion mobile downloads. According to the Morning Consult, TikTok only came second to Peacock and Zoom among the fastest-growing brands in 2020. It is available in over 150 countries and 40 languages, and that’s a commendable job.

Tony Hawk and Jimmy Fallon were among the first American celebrities to join TikTok. Others followed suit shortly, including Justin Bieber, Will Smith, Jessica Alba, and Jennifer Lopez. As of today, the number of celebrities using the platform is huge. The rest of the population also seems to love this social medium explaining the over a billion users in TikTok today.

Its current CEO is Shou Zi Chew, who succeeded Kevin A. Mayer in May 2021 after resigning in August 2020. After the resignation and before Chew took office, Vanessa Pappas served as the interim CEO.

Undoubtedly, TikTok has really made huge strides, and its future looks bright too.
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