<p>Video app TikTok said Friday that its new CEO is Shouzi Chew, the new CFO of its Chinese parent company, ByteDance.</p>
<p>He is based in Singapore, where TikTok has an office. </p>
<p>Vanessa Pappas, based in Los Angeles, has been interim head of TikTok since Kevin Mayer, a former top Disney executive who lasted just a few months in the role as head of TikTok, resigned in August 2020. </p>
<p>Pappas will become COO. </p>
<p>Chew became ByteDance CFO in March. He had previously been a top executive for Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi, which went public in 2018.</p>
<p>TikTok’s app features short videos, many with music and dancing, made by its users that has become a favorite of younger people. Research firm eMarketer predicts that TikTok will have 73 million U.S. users this year. </p>
<p>TikTok had named a U.S.-based CEO last year — Mayer — amid scrutiny from President Donald Trump and his administration, which tried to ban the app based on vague national-security concerns and force a sale to Oracle and Walmart. The Biden administration has <a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-jen-psaki-ca5e68d8b23cb26a0e964b3ea5fe826d">put these efforts on hold </a> as it reviews national security threats posed by Chinese technology companies.</p>
<p>ByteDance CEO Yiming Zhang said in a statement that Chew will focus on “corporate governance and long-term business initiatives," while Pappas oversees manages the app’s operations. </p>
<p>“We will continue building out our strong and deep management team as we set the stage for the next phase of TikTok’s success," Chew said.</p>