A major leadership shakeup has been announced this week at Tencent Music Entertainment Group (TME).
TME CEO Cussion Pang is transitioning to the role of Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors, while Zhu Liang (or Ross Liang) has been appointed as the company’s Chief Executive Officer and Board member.
As the company’s new Executive Chairman, TME says that Cussion Pang will be responsible for “setting the company’s long-term strategy, overall coordination and management of the Board and the Company”.
He will continue to work closely in collaboration with Ross Liang.
As the CEO of Tencent Music, which is majority-owned by China’s Tencent Holdings, Liang will be responsible for overseeing TME’s QQ Music, Kugou Music, Kuwo Music, WeSing and long-form audio business.
Liang previously served as Vice President of Tencent Holdings Limited. He joined the company in 2003.
There, he was responsible for overseeing a number of online platforms including Chinese social communication and entertainment platform QQ, which Tencent claims has 595m MAUs, and a separate social platform called Qzone.
Prior to that role, Liang was the General Manager of QQ Music from 2014 to 2016.
Before he joined Tencent, Liang worked for Huawei Technology Co., Ltd.
Elsewhere, James Gordon Mitchell has been appointed as Chairman of compensation committee of the Board, while Tong Tao Sang (Dowson Tong), TME’s current Chairman of the Board, will resign from the positions of Chairman of the Board, Chairman of compensation committee and all his roles as a director or an officer of affiliates of the Company.
Dowson Tong has served as Chairman of the Board since 2016 and TME says that he has played an integral role in the formation of TME through the strategic merger of Tencent’s QQ Music and WeSing with China Music Corporation, the former holding company of Kugou Music and Kuwo Music
These changes will go into effect as of April 15, 2021.
“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.”
Cussion Pang
Cussion Pang said: “I am delighted to have Ross join our team as the CEO.
“Ross’ 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.
He added: “TME is very well positioned for the secular growth opportunities within online music and audio that lie ahead of us.
“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.”
“It is a true honor to lead this extraordinary and innovative company as CEO.”
Ross Liang
Ross Liang added: “It is a true honor 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 capitalize 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, 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.”
Last month, Warner Music Group and Tencent Music Entertainment announced the launch of a new joint venture record label in China.
In November, Tencent Music acquired a minority stake in Los Angeles-based virtual concerts platform Wave.
In early 2020, the company acquired a minority stake in Universal Music Group via a Tencent-led consortium’s $3.4bn buyout of a 10% stake in UMG.
In June 2020, Tencent Music Entertainment (TME) also acquired its own sliver of Warner Music Group, paying around $100m for a stake worth around 0.8% of WMG. (Tencent Holdings acquired a further 0.8%.)
In October, MBW revealed that both Tencent Holdings and TME had acquired a minority stake in the fast-growing, AI-driven A&R platform Instrumental.Music Business Worldwide