Shortly after his company was acquired by Chinese tech firm Bytedance for more than $800m, Musical.ly’s president, North America Alex Hofmann has stepped down.
“Today, I am announcing my departure from what has been a crazy, wild, turbulent journey, but most importantly the best 3 years of my life,” wrote Hofmann in a LinkedIn post announcing the move.
“My decision to look ahead into future opportunities comes following our recent merger with Chinese Tech Giant, Bytedance. I will stay on as an active shareholder and advisor and am excited to watch the company continue to flourish.”
Hofmann plans to spend the coming months “investing in startups, iterating on new business ideas and exploring Eastern Europe”.
It’s surprising that Bytedance didn’t lock such a senior executive in for a couple of years, but the company will now be able to bring in its own executive to replace Hofmann (or if it doesn’t, that may hint at a change in focus towards Asia rather than North America).
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