(Yicai Global) May 29 -- Liu Zhen, the senior vice president of China’s most popular news aggregator Toutiao, has resigned for personal reasons, tech media outlet 36kr reported today.

Parent firm ByteDance respects Liu's decision and wishes her every success, the report said, citing the Beijing-based tech giant which also owns video-sharing app TikTok.

Liu joined Toutiao in October 2016 and helped it raise USD1 billion in D-series funding later that year led by the US’ Sequoia Capital, Hong Kong’s CCB International and other venture capitalists, boosting the Beijing-based company’s valuation to USD11 billion.

Liu worked as a lawyer in Silicon Valley for nearly a decade before joining ride-hailing giant Uber China in April 2015 as head of strategy. When rival Didi Chuxing Technology took over the firm in August 2016, she left to join Toutiao. With her international experience, Liu’s appointment was seen as a symbol of ByteDance’s strategy to go global.

Liu is the niece of computer giant Lenovo Group founder Liu Chuanzhi and the cousin of Liu Qing, president of Didi Chuxing.

Editor: Kim Taylor