Zhang Yiming Founded TikTok Zhang Yiming is a successful Chinese internet entrepreneur. In 2012, he founded ByteDance and created the news aggregator Toutiao as well as the video-sharing platform TikTok, formerly known as Musical.ly. Zhang's wealth is expected to be $44.5 billion in 2021, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Zhang Yiming stepped down as CEO of ByteDance on November 4, 2021, completing a leadership transition announced in May 2021.