ByteDance founder Zhang Yiming has stepped down as chairman of the TikTok owner, after announcing his resignation as chief executive officer in May, a person with direct knowledge of the matter has revealed.

Liang Rubo would be taking charge as the new chairman, the person adds. However, ByteDance has not commented on the present scenario.

On Tuesday, Liang announced a major organisational rearrangement at ByteDance by creating six business units: TikTok and its Chinese version Douyin, business services unit BytePlus, work collaboration unit Lark, gaming unit Nuverse, and education tech unit Dali Education.

Liang also announced that TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew will step down as its parent ByteDance's chief financial officer (CFO) to focus on running the short video platform full time.

Chew joined ByteDance as CFO in March and was appointed as TikTok CEO in May.