TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer has announced his resignation from the post, less than three months after his appointment. In an email to his employees, Mayer said that "It is with a heavy heart that I wanted to let you all know that I have decided to leave the company."
Kevin Mayer wrote in his email that in recent weeks, the political environment has sharply changed. He said that he has done significant reflection on what the corporate structural changes will require and what it means for the global role he had signed up for.
Mayer's resignation comes just days after TikTok sued US President Donald Trump's administration over an executive order effectively banning all transactions with its Chinese parent company ByteDance in the United States. Tik Tok's parent company ByteDance has been receiving enormous backlash from the US President due to its ties to China.
Who will succeed Kevin Mayer?
TikTok's General Manager in North America, Vanessa Pappas will be taking over as the interim global head of the company.
TikTok's statement
TikTok in an official statement confirmed Mayer's departure, highlighting that the political dynamics of the last few months had "significantly changed" the scope of Mayer's role in the company.
ByteDance's founder and CEO Yiming Zhang also issued a separate letter saying that the company was moving quickly to find resolutions to the issues faced by it globally, particularly in the US and India.
Background
US President Donald Trump on August 6, 2020 signed an executive order banning any US transactions with ByteDance. Trump signed another executive order on August 14 threatening to ban TikTok in the United States if ByteDance does not disinvest its interest in the app's US operations before September 15.
Beijing-based ByteDance is reportedly in talks with Microsoft, Oracle and other investors in the company for the sale of its US, Canadian, Australian and New Zealand operations.
Kevin Mayer: About Him |
| • Kevin Mayer was till recently serving as the CEO of TikTok and COO of TikTok's Chinese Parent Company ByteDance. He announced his resignation from the post on August 26, 2020. • Previously, Mayer was serving as the Chairman of Direct-to-Consumer and International division of The Walt Disney Company. He had resigned from the post in May 2020 to become COO of ByteDance and CEO of TikTok. • Mayer had joined The Walt Disney initially in 1993 and used to handle strategy and business development for Disney's Interactive/Internet and television businesses worldwide. He was later promoted to head Disney Internet group as Executive Vice President. • He then left Disney to serve as the Chief Executive Officer of Playboy.com in February 2000. He, however, left the position a few months later in September 2000. He later took over the position of Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Clear Channel Interactive, a division of Clear Channel Worldwide. • Mayer rejoined the Walt Disney in June 2005 as the Executive Vice President of Corporate Strategy, Business Development, and Technology. • He played a leading role in Disney's acquisitions of Marvel Entertainment, Pixar, 21st Century Fox and Lucasfilm. He was also involved in the divestitures of Miramax and ABC Radio. |
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