TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew eyes a US$64 million Singapore mansion, the most expensive sale ever in Queen Astrid Park
- Harvard graduate, Chew was CFO at ByteDance before replacing Kevin Mayer as TikTok’s CEO amid Donald Trump's plans to ban the Communist app in the US
- If the sale of the ‘good class bungalow’ – the most coveted type of property in Singapore – goes through, it would be the most expensive in Queen Astrid Park
- 4 Aug, 2022
Moving at lightspeed From Facebook intern to TikTok CEO
Xiaomi [a state controlled enterprise] founder Lei Jun, right, and Shou Zi Chew, then-chief financial officer of the smartphone maker, attended the listing of the company at the Hong Kong Exchange in Hong Kong in July 2018.
TikTok’s new CEO, Shou Zi Chew, is said to be “in the early stage” of buying a bungalow in Singapore for US$63.5 million (S$86 million), The Business Times reported.
The property is in the Queen Astrid Park area of Singapore’s affluent 10th district, known for its upscale residential estates and top-tier schools. The lot spans 31,800 sq ft and is currently occupied by an older, run-down bungalow. According to the Times, Chew is expected to redevelop the existing house. Chew did not immediately respond to request for comment, and a TikTok spokesperson declined to comment on the CEO’s reported purchase.
The home is considered a “good class bungalow” – the most coveted type of housing in Singapore, which is only found in certain areas and must have a land area of at least 15,000 sq ft.
If it goes through, the sale would be the most expensive ever in Queen Astrid Park, according to Bruce Lye, the co-founder and managing partner at Singapore Realtors Inc.
“It sets a new benchmark for the area,” Lye said, adding that buyers are drawn to Queen Astrid Park for its exclusivity. “You just don’t see many transactions happening in that area because it’s very rare for people to sell.”
In addition to the location, the selling points of Chew’s reported new property are its size and the fact that it’s relatively level, which will make it easier for the CEO to build a new bungalow on the land, Lye said.
Chew, 38, is not the only millionaire tech entrepreneur to snap up a good class bungalow in Singapore this summer.
In July, Anthony Tan, [along with Chew also a Harvard alumni] now the CEO of ride-sharing app Grab, dropped about US$30 million on a good class bungalow at nearby Bin Tong Park. A few weeks before that, the 28-year-old CEO of gaming firm SecretLab spent nearly US$27 million on a good class bungalow in Caldecott Hill. And in May, Lye brokered the US$47 million sale of a good class bungalow to a tech entrepreneur at Cluny Hill, less than a 10-minute drive from Queen Astrid Park.
..Tan's company Grab, announced a deal to acquire Uber’s Southeast Asia business.
“The trend we’re seeing now is when these tech guys buy, most of them are buying for their own occupation,” Lye said. “They’re looking to hold this [land] really long-term and build their dream house.”
Only two other good class bungalows are currently listed for sale in Queen Astrid Park, one for about US$63 million and the other with price upon request.
Chew, who is Singaporean, was hired as the chief financial officer at TikTok parent company ByteDance in March after several years as CFO of Xiaomi Technology. [SOE] In May, Chew was named TikTok’s new CEO, replacing Kevin Mayer, who only held the role for three months before he resigned in August 2020 amid rumours of a potential TikTok acquisition and by then-president Donald Trump to ban the app.
Chew studied economics at University College London before attending Harvard Business School, according to his LinkedIn profile. He and his wife, Vivian Kao – who also went to Harvard Business School – lived in London, Hong Kong and Beijing before settling back in Singapore.
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