TikTok may be a household name now, but it wasn’t long ago that it was an anomaly. A global sensation that was built in China, the company has gone through rapid iterations of leadership to become what it is today.

Normally, short CEO tenures might ring some alarm bells, but TikTok breaks that norm—transitioning from a Douyin clone to a multinational product in its own right, then riding through geopolitical storms. As TikTok transformed, six company heads led with different styles, each providing what the viral app needed the most when they were at the helm.

When we look at the way TikTok planted roots all over the world and localized its platform to fit users of every culture and inclination, we see how its sprawling internal structure allows for a high degree of autonomy at the regional level. This is atypical of multinational tech companies, particularly those with roots in China.

To unpack all of this information, KrASIA published two deep dives—one on the success of TikTok’s rotating leadership that gives the company its present character, the other on its long-term global ambitions. Give them a read and discover new information about one of the world’s most popular apps.

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