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New CEO at Tencent Music Entertainment
By Chris Cooke | Published on Thursday 15 April 2021
Tencent Music Entertainment – the biggest digital music operator in China – announced yesterday that its current CEO Cussion Pang will become the firm’s Executive Chairman, while Zhu Liang will take over in the Chief Exec role.
Chinese web giant Tencent became the dominant force in digital music in China after it merged its own QQ Music and WeSing services with the China Music Corporation back in 2016. It then spun Tencent Music Entertainment off to become a standalone business that listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2018.
Today TME operates the QQ Music, Kugou Music, Kuwo Music and WeSing platforms within China, as well as having various other interests in music production and distribution in its home country, as well as – often in partnership with the main Tencent parent company – investing in other music businesses around the world, most notably the Universal Music Group.
New CEO Zhu Liang – aka Ross Liang – joins Tencent Music Entertainment from the parent company, where he was most recently Vice President. Earlier in his long career with Tencent he was General Manager of QQ Music, so he has hands on experience with the company’s music operations.
With the rejig at the top of the company, current Chairman of the board Tong Tao Sang is departing after five years, him having led that board through the CMC merger and the subsequent IPO.
Commenting on all these changes, Pang says: “I am delighted to have Ross join our team as the CEO. Ross’s proven track record in building successful online entertainment platforms and social ecosystems, combined with his breadth of experience delivering strong results through successful expansion into new business areas, makes him ideally suited to accelerate our evolution into an all-in-one online music and audio entertainment destination in China”.
Noting his own ongoing role at the company, he adds: “I remain as engaged and committed to the company’s long-term success as ever, and I am excited to work with Ross, along with the board and our entire senior management team, to build on our strong momentum to drive the next phase of growth for TME”.
Liang, meanwhile, says: “It is a true honour to lead this extraordinary and innovative company as CEO. I believe TME’s dedication towards driving a sustainable industry development, outstanding product and technology offerings, and innovative business models, combined with the most talented group of people in the industry, uniquely position the company to capitalise on the exciting opportunities within online music and audio entertainment”.
“I look forward to working in close partnership with Cussion, the board and the senior management team”, he goes on, “to build on our strong foundation to better serve our users, artists and content creators, provide the best career experiences for our people, and create long-term value for our shareholders”.
