Tencent Music Entertainment Group (TME) officially announced on Friday, March 22nd that Zhenyu Xie, the President and Chief Technology Officer, will be stepping down from his positions effective March 31, 2024. The decision, outlined in a press release from the Chinese online music and audio entertainment platform, is attributed to personal reasons. Xie will also be relinquishing his seat on the company’s board. Subsequent to this announcement, the company experienced a 4% drop in shares.
During his tenure at TME, Xie played a crucial role in driving the company’s technological advancements and product development. Expressing his appreciation for Xie’s remarkable service at TME and dedication to the digital music industry, TME’s Executive Chairman, Cussion Pang, also acknowledged Xie’s pivotal role in leading their teams to significant breakthroughs that greatly enhanced TME’s product appeal and user experience. Despite his departure, it was confirmed that Xie will continue to be involved with TME in a consulting capacity in the future.
While a successor for the President role has not been named at this time, the company has announced the appointment of Min Hu, the current Chief Financial Officer, as a new member of the board of directors, effective on March 31, 2024. Min Hu, also known as Shirley Hu, brings over two decades of experience in finance and corporate IT functions. Prior to joining Tencent, Hu served as the director of the internal audit department at Huawei Technology.
Tencent Music continues to face competition from rivals like NetEase Cloud Music, but remains the dominant streaming platform in China. In fact, its paying subscriber base saw a growth of 20.6% year-on-year in the fourth quarter of 2023, reaching 106.7 million paying subscribers.
In other news, Universal Music Group renewed its multi-year licensing deal with TME, enabling the Chinese company to continue gaining access to UMG’s music catalog for its music streaming services. This is significant as China maintained its position as the world’s fifth-largest music market in 2023, with a recorded music revenue surge of 25.9% – the fastest rate of increase in any top 10 market, according to the IFPI’s latest Global Music Report.
The report also highlighted that paid music subscribers in China account for a much lower percentage of the population compared to Korea and Japan, indicating a huge opportunity for growth in the future.
In conclusion, while Zhenyu Xie’s departure marks the end of a significant chapter for TME, the company is making strategic moves to continue its dominance in the Chinese music streaming industry and remain competitive in the global market.