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11 Facts About Chew Shou Zi, The S’porean CEO of TikTok Who Kept a Low Profile

2023-03-23 , 2:05 pm

Last Updated on 2023-03-26 , 12:12 pm

You might not have heard of Chew Shou Zi (yet), but I’m sure you’ve heard of TikTok.

While TikTok has been under the Internet spotlight, the same cannot be said of the people behind the app.

For one, do you happen to know anything about the chief executive officer of TikTok?

If you don’t, we got you!

Here are eleven facts about Chew Shou Zi, the CEO of TikTok, who is gradually entering the limelight after TikTok was accused of privacy issues.

Who Is Chew Shou Zi?

Currently serving as the CEO of TikTok, Mr Chew is a fellow Singaporean who was born and raised in the country. In fact, he’s so Singaporean, he has served NS in the SAF as an officer.

Chew Shou Zi Was Previously From Hwa Chong

He studied in Hwa Chong before going on to achieve a degree in economics at the University College London in 2006. But that’s not all.

He Studied at Harvard as Well

After working at Goldman Sachs for two years as an investment banker, he entered the Master of Business Administration (MBA) programme at the Harvard Business School (HBS).

He Met His Wife at Harvard

Mr Chew met his wife, Vivian Kao, in 2008 over email after the both of them were enrolled in HBS.

The pair got to know each other when they were interning in California during the summer after their first year.

Fun fact: Vivian used to work at Goldman Sachs as well!

They are currently residing in Beijing with their two kids and a dog.

But he does have a home in Singapore.

He Has a $86 Million Good-Class Bungalow in Singapore

Back in July 2021, Mr Chew got into the news after it was revealed that he had bought a Good-Class Bungalow on Queen Astrid Park for a whopping $86 million, and would redevelop the premises.

Back then, he had just joined TikTok for about four months.

During that period, there were various news about the rich buying big houses, including Grab’s CEO buying a $40 million house and Secretlab co-founder buying one along Olive Road.

Chew Shou Zi‘s Tech Roots Were at Facebook

Mr Chew kickstarted his career journey in the tech industry with an internship at Meta Platforms Inc.’s Facebook back when the company was still a start-up.

He Led Investments in Many Companies

He then worked for a venture capital firm where he led investments in companies like ByteDance Ltd. and Xiaomi Corp.

He Used to Work at ByteDance Ltd and Xiaomi Corp as Well

In 2015, he started serving as the Chief Financial Officer at Xiaomi Corp., a Chinese electronics giant. One of his most significant achievements was managing one of China’s biggest tech initial public offerings.

A few years later, in March 2021, he became the Chief Financial Officer at ByteDance Ltd. ByteDance is the parent company of TikTok, although it’s been trying to distance itself from TikTok since it’s a China firm (and you should know why TikTok is trying to distance itself from China, right?)

He Worked at Both Bytedance and TikTok for Some Time

Two months after he became the CFO at ByteDance Ltd., he was also appointed as the CEO of TikTok.

However, he soon stepped down from his position at ByteDance Ltd later that year to focus on running TikTok.

Chew Shou Zi Is Stepping Out Into the Limelight to Defend TikTok

So, why is everyone looking at him now?

US lawmakers are lobbying for a ban of TikTok unless it’s sold to an American company, and he’s now coming out to defend TikTok.

And before Mr Chew met with the US Congress for the first time on Thursday (23 March) to tackle the concerns raised by lawmakers regarding the sharing of TikTok user data from the US with the Chinese government, he appeared in the official TikTok channel, thanking Americans for joining TikTok.

And no, he wasn’t using a Singapore accent.

The CEO of TikTok Has His Own TikTok Account

On a lighter note, is it surprising that the CEO of TikTok will have his own TikTok account?

His most recent post was in February this year, with him posting a snippet of Rihanna’s performance at the Super Bowl Halftime Show.