Zhang Yiming began 2020 with an ill-fated resolution: to travel more.
The success of short video app TikTok, with more than 1bn global users, meant he ran one of the world’s most valuable private tech start-ups. He planned to spend half of every month outside China, recruiting international executives to the app’s parent company, ByteDance.
Now Mr Zhang is stuck in Beijing but nevertheless lives on Silicon Valley time. For the past month, he has woken at 10pm local time to focus on the company’s embattled US operations. TikTok has drawn US president Donald Trump’s escalating ire, culminating on Thursday with an executive order banning TikTok from transacting with US entities in 45 days.