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On April 30, 2021, TikTok announced it has appointed Singaporean Chew Shou Zi, 39, as its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO).

He had previously been the company's Chief Financial Officer (CFO).

Before TikTok, Chew had been working at Xiaomi for almost six years serving as their CFO since 2015, followed by a brief stint as the director of international business.

Chew has an MBA from Harvard, and attended college in London.

The move was described by TikTok as a "strategic reorganisation", to support the company's unprecedented growth and global teams.

Vanessa Pappas is officially appointed to take the role of TikTok chief operating officer.

Pappas served as interim head after the 2020 departure of TikTok's previous CEO, Kevin Mayer, formerly of Walt Disney.

Yiming Zhang, founder and CEO of ByteDance, said: "The leadership team of Shou and Vanessa sets the stage for sustained growth".

Chew, who is based in Singapore, was touted to possess deep knowledge of the company and industry, based on his background in tech and in having led a team amongst TikTok's earlier investors.

Chew said he was humbled by the new role, and pledged to continue building a strong management team together with leaders like Pappas.

If you've not heard of TikTok, you've been living under a rock.

It not only has 1 billion users worldwide, but millions of quirky viral videos, such as this Thai "Daddy", and this GrabFood rider jumping on a customer's trampoline.

You can watch Chew previously speak as Xiaomi's President of International: