Julie Gao

Julie Gao spent over a decade as one of Asia’s foremost capital markets lawyers before signing on as ByteDance’s CFO in 2022. She now oversees the finances of one of the world’s most scrutinized companies; a recent secondary share sale from one of ByteDance’s backers valued the company at $575 billion. Gao also manages ByteDance’s strategically important transactions and supports its global business development efforts. Investors praise Gao for being uncommonly transparent and open for a China-based CFO, vital as the company navigated regulatory challenges over data security and its path to a long hoped for IPO. ByteDance has now concluded its fight to keep TikTok operating in the U.S., but a new battle looms: a critical, and expensive, fight to maintain a leading position in China’s AI sector. ByteDance has developed a range of AI products, including widely used chatbot Doubao and its video model Seedance 2.0.