Born in Singapore, he is proficient in Chinese and English, and is well-versed in business between China and the West. He made a name for himself in the US hearing but could not help the outcome.
The US government has in recent years suppressed the short-video sharing platform TikTok on the grounds of national security. Last week, the House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a bill requiring TikTok to be divested from its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, once again impacting the already tense Sino-US relationship. Shou Chew from Singapore took over as the CEO of TikTok in 2021 when regional political risks escalated. With a background in both Chinese and Western cultures, he needs to show himself as an independent and autonomous leader to the West while also meeting the requirements of the Chinese parent company.
UCL Graduate Enters Goldman Sachs, Studies at Harvard, and Does Internship at Facebook
Shou Chew, 41, is a native of Singapore. He is from a Chinese family and is fluent in both English and Mandarin. His family was not well-off, but he performed well in school since he was a child. At the age of 12, he was admitted to the Hwa Chong Institution, a prestigious school in Singapore, with high scores in the national examination. After reaching adulthood, he served in the military for two and a half years and was promoted to an officer in the armed forces. He was discharged in 2003. He recalled the most difficult experience as the five-day survival course in the Brunei jungle during his service, where he needed to build a hut, cook wild taro, and trek nearly 90 kilometers.
After being discharged, Chew went to the UK to study. Chew studied economics at the University College London (UCL) and worked as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs in London for two years after graduating in 2006. Later, he went to the United States and studied for an MBA at Harvard Business School, where he interned at Facebook, which was in its early stages of development. During the first summer at Harvard, Chew met his current wife, Gao Weiyan, a Taiwanese-American who was also studying for an MBA. The two are now preparing to welcome their third child.
Chew’s relationship with TikTok can be traced back more than 10 years ago. After obtaining his MBA, he joined the Russian investment firm DST Global. Due to his proficiency in both Chinese and English, he became the Chinese interface. During this period, he led DST’s investments in Chinese companies such as JD.com, Xiaomi, Alibaba, and Didi. In 2012, Chew visited an apartment in the university district of Beijing that was known as the “Silicon Valley garage in China.” At that time, 30 people were crowded in the room to develop a news application that recommended messages and articles to readers based on their past reading and search content. This place later gave birth to ByteDance.
Chew believed that the idea of recommending content based on users’ interests rather than the people they know seemed simple but was very powerful. The following year, Chew’s team invested in ByteDance, laying the groundwork for taking over the TikTok business later.
Early exposure to tech startups led to the promotion of Xiaomi’s listing
In 2015, 32-year-old Shou Chew joined another investment target, Xiaomi Group, as the CFO, in charge of business outside China. A former senior at Xiaomi who worked with him described that Chew’s understanding of both Chinese and Western business cultures set him apart from his peers. Chew was also the driving force behind Xiaomi’s listing in Hong Kong in 2018.
At the invitation of ByteDance founder Zhang Yiming, Chew joined ByteDance in March 2021 and became the first CFO of the tech company. Just two months later, Chew took charge of TikTok and was based in his hometown of Singapore. Under his leadership, TikTok has grown significantly, with over 1 billion monthly active users worldwide.
Chew was originally not well-known, but in March last year, he attended a congressional hearing and calmly responded to aggressive questions about TikTok’s security concerns, suddenly becoming the focus of the spotlight. During the five-hour inquiry, dozens of lawmakers chased after him fiercely, asking him questions that lacked common sense, which were ridiculed by netizens.
The calm and eloquence that the gentle-looking Chew demonstrated at the hearing were highly praised, and his popularity also soared. His TikTok account rose from less than 20,000 followers to 4 million. In an interview, he admitted that the exposure that followed the hearing took him by surprise, but as an expanding company, being noticed is important to allow the public to better understand the company and earn the trust it needs.
Taking advantage of his rising popularity, Chew makes good use of TikTok to get closer to netizens, sharing at least one short video per month, including the company’s new products, exhibitions in various places, and daily bits and pieces. As the father of two children, he once said that his children were too young and were not allowed to play TikTok.
However, little is known about Chew’s control within the company. The New York Times quoted sources in 2022 as reporting that Chew is mainly responsible for the company’s finances and operations, and his decision-making power is limited. The power still rests with founder Zhang Yiming.
+ There are no comments
Add yours