Shou Zi Chew

Shou Zi Chew
Chew in 2023
Shou Zi Chew
Born	1 1, 1983
Birthplace	Singapore
Nationality	Singaporean
Occupation	Business executive
Title	Chief Executive Officer of TikTok
Known for	CEO of TikTok
Education	University College London (BSc) Harvard Business School (MBA)
Spouse(s)	Vivian Kao

Shou Zi Chew (Template:Zh; born 1 January 1983) is a Singaporean business executive who has served as the chief executive officer (CEO) of TikTok, the global short-form video platform owned by Chinese technology company ByteDance, since 2021. Before leading one of the world's most downloaded applications, Chew built a career in investment banking and technology finance, including a notable tenure as chief financial officer (CFO) of Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi, where he helped guide the company through its landmark initial public offering on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. A graduate of University College London and Harvard Business School, Chew has emerged as a central figure in debates over technology regulation, data privacy, and the geopolitical tensions surrounding Chinese-owned technology companies operating in Western markets. Under his leadership, TikTok has grown to approximately 1.7 billion users worldwide, making it one of the dominant social media platforms globally. Chew has testified before the United States Congress and engaged in extensive diplomatic outreach with European regulators as TikTok has navigated scrutiny from governments around the world.

Early Life

Shou Zi Chew was born on 1 January 1983 in Singapore. He grew up in the city-state, which is known for its rigorous educational system and its position as a global financial hub. As a Singaporean citizen, Chew completed mandatory national service before pursuing higher education abroad.

Chew's upbringing in Singapore, a multicultural nation with strong ties to both Western and Asian economies, shaped his ability to navigate cross-cultural business environments. Singapore's emphasis on bilingualism — with English as the primary language of instruction and business alongside Mandarin Chinese — provided Chew with linguistic and cultural fluency that would prove instrumental in his later career working across Asian and Western technology companies.

Education

Chew pursued his undergraduate studies at University College London (UCL) in the United Kingdom, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree. His time in London exposed him to international finance and business, which laid the groundwork for his career in investment banking and technology.

He later attended Harvard Business School (HBS) in the United States, where he obtained a Master of Business Administration (MBA). The Harvard MBA programme is among the most selective business education programmes in the world, and Chew's time there helped him build a network in the American business and technology community. It was during his time in the broader Boston and American academic ecosystem that Chew gained early exposure to the United States technology industry.

At the start of his career, Chew worked as an intern at Facebook (now Meta Platforms), the social media company founded by Mark Zuckerberg. This early experience at Facebook — the company that would become one of TikTok's principal competitors — provided Chew with direct insight into the operations and culture of a major Silicon Valley technology firm.

Career

Early Career and Goldman Sachs

After completing his education, Chew began his professional career in finance. He worked at Goldman Sachs, one of the world's leading investment banks, where he gained experience in banking and financial advisory services. His time at Goldman Sachs provided him with a deep understanding of corporate finance, valuations, and capital markets — skills that would prove essential in his later roles in the technology sector.

Chew's career trajectory from investment banking into technology executive roles reflected a broader trend among finance professionals transitioning into the rapidly growing technology industry during the late 2000s and 2010s.

Xiaomi

In 2015, Chew joined Xiaomi, the Chinese consumer electronics and smartphone manufacturer, as its chief financial officer (CFO). At the time of his appointment, Xiaomi was one of the most valuable private technology companies in the world and was expanding aggressively in the smartphone market, competing with established players such as Apple and Samsung.

As CFO, Chew was responsible for overseeing Xiaomi's financial operations, investor relations, and strategic financial planning. One of his most significant accomplishments at Xiaomi was his role in guiding the company through its initial public offering (IPO) on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The Xiaomi IPO, which took place in 2018, was one of the largest technology listings of that year and represented a landmark moment for the company's expansion and maturation as a public entity.

Chew's tenure at Xiaomi demonstrated his capacity to operate at the highest levels of a major technology company with a global footprint. His experience managing the financial complexities of a hardware-and-software company headquartered in China while catering to international markets prepared him for the even more complex challenge of leading TikTok, a platform with a global user base and significant regulatory exposure.

ByteDance and Appointment as TikTok CEO

In March 2021, Chew transitioned from Xiaomi to ByteDance, TikTok's parent company, initially serving as CFO of ByteDance. Shortly thereafter, he was named CEO of TikTok, assuming leadership of the platform at a time when it was experiencing both explosive user growth and intensifying scrutiny from governments around the world, particularly in the United States.

Chew's appointment was noteworthy for several reasons. As a Singaporean national — neither Chinese nor American — he was seen as a figure who could potentially bridge the geopolitical divide that had come to define TikTok's relationship with Western governments. His background in finance, combined with his experience at a major Chinese technology company, positioned him as a candidate who understood both the operational dynamics of Chinese tech firms and the expectations of Western regulators and investors.

The transition from Xiaomi CFO to TikTok CEO represented a significant shift from a primarily financial role to a position requiring public-facing leadership, regulatory engagement, and the management of a content platform with cultural influence around the world.

Leadership of TikTok

Under Chew's leadership, TikTok continued its rapid global expansion. By 2025, the platform had approximately 1.7 billion users worldwide, establishing it as one of the most-used social media applications in history. The platform's growth made it a direct competitor to established social media companies including Meta Platforms (the parent company of Facebook and Instagram), Alphabet (the parent company of YouTube), and Snap Inc. (the parent company of Snapchat). The competitive dynamic was underscored by Chew's own early career: he had interned at Facebook before eventually becoming CEO of one of Meta's most formidable rivals.

Chew also oversaw organizational changes within TikTok. In October 2025, he announced a major restructuring of the company, promoting 32-year-old executive Zhi Ying and merging certain divisions within the platform's organizational structure.

Regulatory Challenges and Government Engagement

A defining aspect of Chew's tenure as TikTok CEO has been the platform's navigation of regulatory challenges across multiple jurisdictions. Concerns about data privacy, content moderation, and the national security implications of a Chinese-owned company having access to the data of hundreds of millions of Western users have placed TikTok — and Chew personally — at the center of major policy debates.

United States

The most consequential regulatory challenge TikTok has faced under Chew's leadership is the United States government's efforts to either force a sale of TikTok's U.S. operations or ban the platform outright. The U.S. enacted a "divest-or-ban" law requiring ByteDance to sell TikTok's American operations or face a nationwide prohibition of the app.

In response, Chew led negotiations that resulted in a significant restructuring of TikTok's U.S. business. In December 2025, Chew informed employees in an internal memo that TikTok had signed an agreement to create a new U.S. joint venture that would house TikTok's American operations. According to reports, the deal involved ByteDance agreeing to sell over 80 percent of TikTok's U.S. business, a move designed to satisfy the requirements of the divest-or-ban legislation and avoid a nationwide shutdown of the platform.

Chew also testified before the United States Congress, appearing before lawmakers to address concerns about TikTok's data practices, its relationship with the Chinese government, and the platform's impact on younger users. His congressional testimony became one of the most high-profile moments of his public career and attracted significant media attention.

European Union

In January 2023, Chew launched what media outlets described as a "charm offensive" in the European Union, meeting with senior EU officials to address concerns about TikTok's data practices and compliance with European regulations. He met with Margrethe Vestager, the EU's competition commissioner and Executive Vice President of the European Commission, to discuss TikTok's operations in Europe.

The EU meetings took place against a backdrop of increasing European concern about TikTok. Several European governments had moved to ban TikTok from government-owned devices, and the platform had been fined €5 million (approximately $5.4 million) by France's data protection authority over cookies-related issues. Security experts and policy analysts raised broader questions about the risks posed by TikTok's Chinese ownership and its potential vulnerability to Chinese government influence.

At the same time, some EU member states and institutions had begun restricting the use of TikTok on official devices, mirroring similar moves by U.S. state governments and federal agencies.

Canada

In July 2025, Chew personally intervened in a regulatory dispute with the Canadian government. In a letter obtained by media, Chew requested an "urgent" meeting with Mélanie Joly, Canada's Minister of Industry, amid an order that threatened to shut down TikTok's operations in the country. Chew wrote that without government intervention, "TikTok will be forced to fire all of its" Canadian employees. The Canadian situation further illustrated the extent to which Chew's role as CEO required sustained diplomatic engagement with multiple national governments simultaneously.

Personal Life

Chew is married to Vivian Kao. The couple maintains a relatively private personal life, consistent with Chew's generally low-key public profile outside of official corporate and regulatory engagements.

As a Singaporean citizen, Chew's nationality has been a noteworthy aspect of his public identity in the context of TikTok's geopolitical challenges. His position as a Southeast Asian national leading a Chinese-owned company with massive Western user bases has placed him in a unique position in global technology leadership. He is neither a Chinese national — which might have heightened concerns about the platform's ties to Beijing — nor an American, which might have been perceived as cosmetic distancing from ByteDance's Chinese roots.

Chew has maintained a presence on TikTok itself, using the platform under the handle @shou.time to communicate with users and the broader public.

Recognition

Chew's role as CEO of TikTok has made him one of the most prominent technology executives in the world. His congressional testimony before U.S. lawmakers attracted significant media coverage and public attention, elevating his profile beyond the technology industry into mainstream public consciousness.

His career trajectory — from Goldman Sachs to Facebook intern, to CFO of Xiaomi, and ultimately to CEO of TikTok — has been the subject of extensive media coverage. Fortune magazine profiled his unusual path from interning at Facebook to leading one of Meta's most significant competitors. Business Insider and other outlets have published detailed profiles of Chew, particularly as TikTok's regulatory battles intensified.

Chew's engagement with European regulators, including his meetings with senior EU officials such as Margrethe Vestager, drew attention from European and international media outlets, further establishing him as a key figure in the global debate over technology regulation and data governance.

Legacy

While Chew's career continues and any assessment of his legacy remains preliminary, his tenure as TikTok CEO has already placed him at the intersection of several defining issues in 21st-century technology: the global expansion of Chinese technology platforms, the regulatory response of Western democracies to perceived national security threats from foreign-owned social media, and the broader question of how technology companies operate across geopolitical boundaries.

The U.S. divestiture deal, which Chew helped negotiate in 2025, represented one of the most significant forced restructurings of a technology company by a national government. If the joint venture arrangement proceeds, it could establish a precedent for how foreign-owned technology platforms operate in the United States and may influence regulatory approaches in other countries.

Chew's career also exemplifies the increasingly global nature of technology leadership. Born in Singapore, educated in London and at Harvard, with early career experience at Goldman Sachs and Facebook, and executive roles at Chinese companies Xiaomi and ByteDance, Chew's professional biography spans multiple continents and business cultures. This international background has been both an asset — enabling him to navigate diverse regulatory environments and stakeholder expectations — and a source of scrutiny, as critics have questioned whether any individual can adequately serve the interests of a Chinese parent company while simultaneously addressing the security concerns of Western governments.

The outcome of TikTok's regulatory battles under Chew's leadership will likely shape the future relationship between Chinese technology companies and Western markets for years to come.