TikTok owner ByteDance appoints lawyer Julie Gao as new CFO; to join in May

TikTok-owner ByteDance has appointed corporate attorney Julie Gao as its new chief financial officer (CFO), according to an internal memo sent to staff on Monday and seen by Reuters.

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 the memo sent by ByteDance chief executive Liang Rubo.

A ByteDance spokesperson confirmed Gao's appointment.

Gao will join ByteDance in May, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter.

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 in November from the CFO role to focus on being TikTok's CEO.

The company currently doesn't have a timeline for its much-anticipated IPO, according to the person.

ByteDance said last April it did not have any imminent plans for a public listing.

Sources had previously told Reuters it was looking at a Hong Kong or New York listing.

The 10-year-old company saw its total revenue grow by 70% year on year to around $58 billion in 2021, Reuters has reported, 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.

One of the world's largest private companies, ByteDance had a valuation of about $300 billion in trades earlier this year.

(Reporting by Yingzhi Yang and Brenda Goh Editing by Mark Potter)