# Liang Rubo

Co-founder, Chairman, and CEO, Bytedance. TIME100 AI 2026, Leaders. ByteDance's CEO roomed with founder Zhang Yiming at Nankai University and was the company's head of human resources when he was named CEO in 2021. ([aljazeera.com](https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2021/5/20/bytedance-ceo-steps-down-chooses-college-roommate-as-successor))

- Born: 1983, Yichun, Jiangxi, China ([zh.wikipedia.org](https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/梁汝波))
- Education: BS, Software engineering, Nankai University, 2005 ([zh.wikipedia.org](https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/梁汝波))
- Career: ByteDance (Co-founder, Chairman and CEO, 2012 to now); 99fang.com (Co-founder, Technical Director, 2009–2012); Accelicon Technologies (Principal Engineer, 2005–2009) ([bytedance.com](https://www.bytedance.com/corporate-governance/rubo-liang), [en.wikipedia.org](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liang_Rubo), [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/in/rubo-liang-54744824), [yespress.io](https://yespress.io/liang-rubo))
- TIME profile: https://time.com/collection/time100-ai/2026/liang-rubo/
- Profile: https://www.autumn.ai/resources/most-influential-people-in-ai/liang-rubo

- Met ByteDance founder Zhang Yiming as a freshman roommate at Nankai University in 2001; the two shared a dorm and one desktop computer. ([yespress.io](https://yespress.io/liang-rubo))
- In 2012 he and Zhang ran a real estate app by day and built the news app Toutiao by night from a rented Beijing apartment. ([kr-asia.com](https://kr-asia.com/liang-rubo-the-executor-and-former-roommate-of-zhang-yiming-ready-to-take-over-as-ceo-at-bytedance))
- Was running ByteDance's human resources when Zhang named him CEO in 2021, at age 38. ([reuters.com](https://www.reuters.com/world/china/exclusive-bytedance-co-founder-zhang-yiming-step-down-ceo-2021-05-20/))
- In a 2024 speech he scolded staff for only starting to talk about ChatGPT in 2023, and cited a task cut from 1,000 man-days to 15 after review. ([fortune.com](https://fortune.com/asia/2024/02/01/bytedance-ceo-liang-rubo-memo-to-employees-missed-ai-wave-tencent-pony-ma-alibaba-jd/))
- Told staff in August 2026 that the gap between ByteDance's language models and leading overseas rivals was widening, a rare admission. ([finance.biggo.com](https://finance.biggo.com/news/d7fb8462-09c6-4356-afda-68ae5e2fb5b5))
- He and Zhang gave their old university 200 million yuan (about $28 million) in 2024 for math research. ([scmp.com](https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3275281/bytedances-low-profile-founders-donate-us28-million-alma-mater-nankai-university))