TikTok founder Zhang Yiming has revealed that he idolizes Tesla co-founder and CEO Elon Musk, eliciting a positive response from the richest person in the world.
What Happened: Yiming revealed that although there are a lot of successful entrepreneurs around the world, he thinks Musk is able to not only "undertake challenging and innovative projects," but also do so consistently.
According to a clip posted by user @ray4tesla on X, formerly Twitter, Yiming thinks "average people cannot even possibly contemplate" taking up challenging projects the way Musk does.
Musk appreciated Yiming's comments, saying that it was "nice of him."
Yiming is the founder and former CEO of TikTok parent ByteDance. His net worth is estimated at $42.3 billion, placing him at the 30th place on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, while Musk is at the top with a net worth of $219 billion.
Why It Matters: Yiming's praise should come as a relief to Musk who has been criticized and called out for his statements and decisions.
This ranges from his Twitter acquisition and the subsequent upheaval of the social media platform to his constant back-and-forth with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
Musk has also recently come under fire for wanting to increase his stake in Tesla, with "Mad Money" host Jim Cramer predicting that the electric vehicle maker would be the "first to fall" from the "Magnificent 7" stock group.
"To me, it's looking a little like Tesla would be the first to fall," Cramer said. "We have a CEO [who's] getting a little petulant…again, talking about needing to control 25% to innovate."
Under Musk's leadership, X has also been repeatedly called out for becoming a "cesspool" of misinformation.
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