Chinese tech giant TikTok recently appointed Singaporean Chew Shou Zi as its new chief executive officer earlier in May, taking over Kevin Mayer who left the position last year.
Today (July 30), it is reported that he is in the early stage of buying a Good Class Bungalow (GCB) for S$86 million.
He will be redeveloping an existing property on Queen Astrid Park that spans over 31,800 sq ft, which works out to about S$2,700 per sq ft.
This news follows a recent spate of GCB buys from other startup founders. Last month, Ian Ang, the CEO and co-founder of gaming chair manufacturer Secretlab bought two luxury properties in a week worth S$51 million.
The 28-year-old had splashed the cash on a GCB at 27 Olive Road in the Caldecott Hill Estate for S$36 million, and a 7,007 square feet five-bedroom triplex penthouse at Leedon Residence for S$15 million.
Meanwhile, Grab CEO Anthony Tan’s family ‘grabbed’ a good class bungalow near Holland Village for S$40 million and Razer CEO Min-Liang Tan is reported to be in the early stages of buying a GCB in the Bin Tong Park area for S$40 million.
These recent property sprees have cemented their status as “ultra high net worth individuals“.
New TikTok CEO has an illustrious career
The Harvard graduate joined TikTok at a crucial point, which is at the peak of its popularity with about 689 million users globally.
However, he has to manage the political tensions between China and the United States who have growing concerns about data privacy on the app, which gets its popularity largely from being able to predict what users want to see next using its powerful algorithm.
Chew also has a very illustrious career. One of his first full-time roles was in investment banking at Goldman Sachs. He was there from 2006 to 2008, before joining DST Investment Management, where he was a partner from 2010 to 2015.
Prior to joining TikTok, he was the chief financial officer (CFO) of Bytedance, TikTok’s parent company, though he served for only three months.
He was also appointed as the CFO of Xiaomi — one of the biggest Chinese smartphone companies — in 2015. He held his role for four years before moving on to being the president of the company’s international business.
During his time, he was able to secure financing from investors and played a huge part in seeing Xiaomi get listed.
Featured Image Credit: Chew Shou Zi via Twitter / Google Map