TikTok owner ByteDance has reportedly hired Zhou Chang,Friend’s Mothers 4 the former head of Alibaba’s Tongyi large-model team, with an eight-figure annual salary package, according to media reports last Friday. Zhou’s compensation at ByteDance represents a significant promotion—jumping two levels compared to Alibaba’s ranking system—and a several-fold increase in pay. Zhou’s move to ByteDance is said to include a team of over 10 colleagues, who were also offered senior-level positions corresponding to Alibaba’s P10 and P9 levels. Public records show Zhou joined Alibaba in 2017, leading efforts on multimodal pre-training models, including the M6 model, known for its breakthroughs in scale and low-carbon training methods. In July, rumors suggested Zhou would leave to start his own company. By October, he reportedly joined ByteDance. On Nov. 13, sources claimed Alibaba initiated arbitration, alleging Zhou violated a non-compete agreement. [IThome]
