ByteDance’s live broadcast business has a new person in charge. He is an “old Byte person” who grew up from within and controls this core business at a critical stage.
Promotion background and business status
Zi Jingxin’s promotion this time comes at a critical time when ByteDance is facing the “9.17 divestiture deadline”. The live broadcast business is a core segment that contributes about 35% of the company’s revenue. The change of its leadership has attracted great attention from the outside world. This adjustment occurred in the context of the company’s overall business facing pressure from the external environment.
This appointment is part of a series of recent high-level personnel changes at ByteDance. Wang Yinglei, the former head of live broadcast business, has switched to work on other teams and reported to Zhi Ying, head of product operations. Such adjustments indicate that the company is redeploying the strength of its core management as it responds to challenges.
The growth path of “old Byte people”
Zi Jingxin joined ByteDance in 2017. As an executive who was promoted step by step internally, she graduated from Peking University and already had a solid background before joining the company. Her career trajectory is a microcosm of ByteDance's internal talent training system.
She made her first public appearance at the company in 2019, when ByteDance first exposed its 106-member executive structure. In that list, as the head of product strategy, she appeared in the management team of Toutiao CEO Chen Lin, which laid the foundation for her subsequent expansion of responsibilities.
Rich business experience
Before becoming the person in charge of live broadcasting, Zi Jingxin experienced multiple business lines within ByteDance. At that time, she took charge of the Southeast Asian business of e-commerce. This area subsequently developed into one of the most mature regions for the company's e-commerce, with the Indonesian market contributing significant revenue.
Since then, her responsibilities have extended to cross-border operations and corporate strategy. Every change in responsibilities is accompanied by an adjustment in the business structure. For example, she was transferred from the head of the "business-to-business" business to the head of the S project, reporting directly to Kang Zeyu, the e-commerce head at the time.
Low-key and pragmatic style
Zi Jingxin was described as having a "calm personality" by ByteDance employees who had been exposed to her through public workplace social platform information. This low-key and pragmatic style is less common than that of Internet company executives, and is more in line with her long-term background in strategy and cross-border business.
There are not many public evaluations of her within the company because she is rarely on the front line of external business. Her promotion was based more on internal recognition of her business capabilities and past performance rather than external popularity.
ByteDance’s group portrait of female executives
Zi Jingxin was promoted, which once again made the outside world pay attention to a group of female executives in ByteDance's management. Now, the heads of several core sectors of Douyin Group include many women, such as Wei Wenwen, the head of the e-commerce business, and Pu Yanzi, the head of the life services business.
In 2017, Wei Wenwen joined the company. After that, she was responsible for the commercialization business of Toutiao and Juju Engine. In 2021, she took on the position of president of Douyin e-commerce. Pu Yanzi was an early employee who joined in 2013 and has been responsible for the commercial sales system for a long time. Together, they form the leadership force for the company's key business lines.
Challenges and expectations of the new term
The first priority for Zi Jingxin is to stabilize the live broadcast business and deal with possible changes in the external environment. As the mainstay of revenue, the live broadcast business is very critical to the company's overall operations. She had to apply her past experience in e-commerce and strategy to a new field.
Her past experience demonstrates her ability to manage complex and cross-regional businesses. Taking over the live broadcast at this time, the company obviously expects her to lead the team to smoothly transition and explore new growth points. The market will pay close attention to the new person in charge’s subsequent specific actions.
For a company in a critical period, handing over its core business to an "old Byte person" who has been trained internally, do you think this is out of more prudent considerations, or is it a signal of change? Welcome to share your personal views in the comment area! If you feel the analysis is enlightening, please give it a thumbs up and support it.
