French billionaire Xavier Niel is joining the board of directors of TikTok’s parent, ByteDance, the company told the South China Morning Post. It’s an interesting move as Niel isn’t a name that comes up very often for high-profile board positions.
He is replacing Philippe Laffont, the founder of the New York-based investment firm Coatue Management, on ByteDance’s board, per the report. Coatue has been considering selling a portion of its stake in ByteDance, according to a report by The Information on August 23.
Niel is the owner of French telecom company Iliad. He has also been an active startup investor with his seed investment firm Kima Ventures and through other investment vehicles. Additionally, he created Station F, a startup campus based in Paris, as well as setting up a computer science school called 42.