Benzinga | Mar 24, 2021 02:46PM EDT

ByteDance Ropes In Former Xiaomi Head As Finance Chief: Report

TikTok owner ByteDance Ltd. hired former Xiaomi Corp's (OTC: XIACF) Chew Shou Zi as its CFO, amid speculations over the company's initial public offering (IPO), Bloomberg reports.

* Chew, who supervised Xiaomi's IPO and smartphone international expansion as the CFO, tweeted about his recent joining in Singapore.

* Xiaomi had earlier announced his departure in a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange.

* ByteDance had been exploring plans to list some of its businesses, including TikTok's Chinese twin Douyin in Hong Kong.

* The company's revenue more than doubled to about $35 billion in 2020 amid intense competition and Donald Trump's attempts to ban it over security concerns.

* U.S. President Joe Biden's new administration had paused a government lawsuit that could have led to the de facto ban on TikTok's use in the U.S.

* The start-up's revenue had more than quadrupled from just $8 billion in 2018 and now posts sales on par with the likes of Nike Inc (NYSE: NKE) and Coca-Cola Co (NYSE: KO).

* Earlier this year, ByteDance's fundraising valued it at $180 billion.

* Price action: XIACF shares traded lower by 2.94% at $3.3 on the last check Wednesday.