TikTok is taking power away from a top US shopping exec

• TikTok is restructuring US operations for its e-commerce platform, Shop.
• US operations head Nico Le Bourgeois will now report to former Douyin executive Mu Qing.
• It's the latest move to shift management of TikTok Shop under global leadership.

TikTok is continuing to consolidate control of its US e-commerce operations under Chinese and global leadership.

In the latest move, Nico Le Bourgeois, head of US operations for TikTok Shop, is getting pulled under Mu Qing, a former e-commerce VP for TikTok's Chinese sister app, Douyin, three staffers told Business Insider.

Mu Qing, who recently took over control of other central US Shop teams like creator and agency partnerships, will now also oversee US operations. Le Bourgeois will continue to manage the company's work with US-based merchants selling in the local market, but will now report to Mu Qing rather than ByteDance's e-commerce head Bob Kang.

A TikTok spokesperson declined to comment. Le Bourgeois did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The restructuring, announced to staffers in a memo from Kang last week, is the latest in a series of power shifts that have shaken up TikTok's US shopping organization.

Le Bourgeois joined TikTok in 2023 after overseeing Amazon's seller marketplace and other retail operations. He previously oversaw US operations alongside Marni Levine, a former Meta executive who left TikTok last year. The pair were hired to replace Sandie Hawkins, the company's former general manager of US e-commerce.

Three current and one former staffer told BI they felt that Le Bourgeois's power had already diminished in the organization before last week's reorg.

Executives with experience working on the company's e-commerce business in China have taken more control in the US, company insiders previously told BI. Some of those leaders include Mu Qing, product VP Xu Luran, and Sheng Zhou, the company's SVP of global e-commerce.

The string of e-commerce team shake-ups may stem from the fact that leadership has not been happy with Shop's US performance. Kang specifically called out the country for underperforming, speaking in February during a company all-hands call.

In March, the company handed out a slew of low scores to US e-commerce staffers in annual performance reviews, with some receiving a choice between taking a performance-improvement plan or leaving with severance.

Earlier this month, the company laid off US e-commerce workers focused on governance and experience, the division of the company that handles marketplace safety for Shop. The company also restructured the governance and experience team globally, giving Chinese and Singaporean leaders greater control over the rollout of TikTok Shop in new markets like Latin America.

TikTok's future in the US remains uncertain due to a 2024 law that requires ByteDance, a Chinese tech firm, to divest from its US app or face a possible ban. The company previously said it had talks with the US government, but discussions around a deal are tied up in a broader US-China trade war.

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Ashley Rodriguez contributed reported.