Recently everyone is talking about Shou Zi Chew who has been on the media lately. Today lets learn more about this man.
TikTok’s CEO Shou Zi Chew: The Banker Turned Tech Boss Facing Congressional Scrutiny
TikTok, the popular social media app owned by Chinese tech company ByteDance, has been under increasing scrutiny by Western governments due to concerns around the app’s potential links to the Chinese government. As a result, TikTok’s CEO, Shou Zi Chew, will represent the company in a US congressional meeting on Thursday.
Chew, a former banker turned tech boss, has a low public profile, even in his home country of Singapore. Despite this, he has rapidly risen through the ranks of Chinese tech success stories, having previously worked as the chief financial officer of Xiaomi before joining ByteDance in March 2021.
The stakes are high for Chew, as he prepares to face the House Energy and Commerce Committee and answer questions about ByteDance’s and TikTok’s connections to Beijing. The Biden administration has already called on the company to cut ties with its Chinese ownership or face a complete ban.
In his prepared remarks, Chew will deny that ByteDance is an agent of China and state that TikTok has never shared US user data with the Chinese government. However, concerns remain, and Western governments have already ordered officials to delete the app from their phones.
Despite being relatively unknown, Chew’s background and rise to power are impressive. He attended the prestigious Hwa Chong school in Singapore before studying economics at University College London and working for Goldman Sachs and Facebook. Fluent in Mandarin and English, Chew is married to investment company CEO Vivian Kao, whom he met at Harvard Business School.
Chew’s appearance before Congress highlights the ongoing debate around Chinese technology and the increasing scrutiny that it is facing. It remains to be seen how much power Chew has in making decisions compared to ByteDance founder Zhang Yiming and other executives at the parent company. However, his responses to the Congressional questioning will undoubtedly be closely watched by those on both sides of the debate.
