Gao, currently Hong Kong-based capital markets attorney at law firm Skadden, will be based in Hong Kong and Singapore upon joining ByteDance.
Gao, currently Hong Kong-based capital markets attorney at law firm Skadden, will be based in Hong Kong and Singapore upon joining ByteDance.
TikTok owner ByteDance has named company lawyer Julie Gao as her new chief financial officer (CFO), according to an internal memo sent to employees on Monday and seen by Reuters.
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Gao, currently a Hong Kong-based capital markets attorney at law firm Skadden, will be based in Hong Kong and Singapore once she joins ByteDance, according to ByteDance CEO Liang Rubo’s memo.
A ByteDance spokesperson confirmed Gao’s appointment.
According to a person with direct knowledge of the matter, Gao will join ByteDance in May.
Gao has advised on ByteDance’s acquisitions of Musical.ly, which was later integrated into TikTok, and Shanghai-based gaming studio Moonton, according to her biography page on Skadden’s official website.
The move comes after ByteDance’s former CFO, Shou Zi Chew, who joined the company in March 2021, stepped down from the CFO role in November to focus on the role of CEO of TikTok.
According to the person, the company currently has no timeline for its much-anticipated IPO.
ByteDance said last April it had no immediate plans for a public listing. Sources had previously told Reuters it was a Hong Kong or New York listing.
Total revenue for the 10-year-old company rose 70% year over year in 2021 to about $58 billion, slower growth than a year earlier as China tightens its regulation of big tech companies.
In 2020, the company’s total revenue grew by over 100% to $34.3 billion.
ByteDance, one of the largest private companies in the world, had a trading valuation of about $300 billion earlier this year.
