(Yicai Global) Jan. 22 --  Mobile news aggregator Yidian Zixun has named co-founder Ren Xuyang as its new chief executive, replacing Li Ya, according to the Chinese company's internal emails.

The Dongguan-based firm was formed at almost the same time as China's biggest news content platform Jinri Toutiao, run by Bytedance Technology. Yidian boasted some 70 million daily active users as of the end of last year and J.P. Morgan Chase valued the firm at between CNY15 billion (USD2.2 billion) and CNY18 billion last August.

Toutiao's DAUs reached 120 million last July, while parent ByteDance has developed a series of key mobile apps including short video network TikTok, known as Douyin in China. The platform boasts over 200 million DAUs. The company's value jumped to USD75 billion last year after new investment, making it the world's most valuable startup.

Li joined Chinese outlet Phoenix New Media as chief operating officer in June 2006 before switching to chief financial officer until November 2010. Phoenix invested USD30 million in Yidian Zixun parent Particle in 2014 and Li came in as Yidian Zixun CEO as well as Phoenix President . Li resigned from his position at Phoenix in September 2017 to devote himself to developing Yidian Zixun.

Yidian Zixun co-founder Ren was formerly a vice-president at Baidu, responsible for marketing, public relations, investment and mergers, strategic cooperation and business innovation.

Editor: William Clegg