Mountain View, Calif. – September 18, 2026 -- NewsBreak has appointed Nicolas Zylberstein as its first Chief Business Officer, tasking him with commercial growth across the core NewsBreak platform and two new AI ventures, Nearby AI and NDot AI.
NewsBreak creates first-ever Chief Business Officer role to scale two AI businesses
The newly created position places Zylberstein over strategic growth for NewsBreak's flagship local news and life platform, which serves more than 40 million monthly active users across the U.S. He will also oversee commercialization of Nearby AI, an agentic local intent marketplace connecting consumers to local businesses, and NDot AI, a B2B media technology platform offering publishers audience growth, personalization, engagement and monetization tools.
Zylberstein brings six years of ByteDance AI partnership experience to the role
Zylberstein joins after six years at ByteDance, where he led AI partnerships, strategy and corporate development and worked on the early launch of TikTok Shop. He previously held senior operating and strategy roles at Pinterest, YouTube and The Walt Disney Company, contributing to Pinterest's IPO, the launch and growth of YouTube Premium and YouTube TV, and Disney's streaming transition that led to Disney+.
CEO cites unpredictable search and social channels as driver for B2B media tech push
Dr. Jeff Zheng, Founder and CEO of NewsBreak, Nearby AI and NDot AI, said publishers need a growth partner to build and monetize direct audiences as search and social distribution channels become less predictable. He said Nearby AI and NDot AI together represent a significant B2B opportunity to build infrastructure for both media and local business ecosystems in the AI era.
Zylberstein holds MBA from Wharton and began career at JPMorgan and McKinsey
Zylberstein started his career in investment banking at JPMorgan in London and in strategy consulting at McKinsey & Company in New York. He holds an MBA from the Wharton School, a Master of Finance from Sciences Po Paris, and a Master of Laws from Sorbonne University.