Short video Chinese app, TikTok, is currently dealing with a lot of issues that could see it lose its American business. In a bid to try to save its U.S. business, it appointed Kevin Mayer as TikTok’s CEO three months ago. However, in a twist of events, Kevin Mayer, recently resigned his position. The current general manager, Vanessa Pappas, will serve as the interim head.
TikTok said in a statement to the Financial Times that the company will fully respect Kevin Mayer’s decision. The company also thanked for his work in the company and wish him all the best.
Prior to this, ByteDance announced in May this year that Kevin Mayer (Kevin Mayer) will serve as the chief operating officer of ByteDance and the global CEO of TikTok. He officially joined ByteDance on June 1, 2020.
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Kevin Mayer has held many important positions at Disney in the past 20 years. During his tenure as Chairman of Consumer and International Business, Kevin Mayer successfully launched Disney+, a streaming service for Disney. When assuming the role of Senior Executive, Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer of Disney, Kevin Mayer was responsible for corporate strategy, business development, and other departments. He also promoted Disney’s acquisitions of Pixar Animation, Marvel, Lucasfilm, and 21st Century Fox. Kevin Mayer has also been responsible for streaming services such as Hulu, ESPN+, and Hotstar, as well as international operations, global content, and advertising sales.
TikTok heads to an American court
His resignation comes a few days after TikTok announced that it is shutting down its American business. The company has filed a case in court and it admitted that it has little chance of success.
The company pointed out in the complaint that the U.S. government has ignored TikTok’s tremendous efforts to serve the U.S. market. For example, the main personnel responsible for TikTok in the U.S. are Americans. The CEO, global chief security officer, and general counsel of the company in the U.S. are all Americans. These people are not subject to Chinese laws. In addition, American content review is also led by the American team and operates independently of China. Moreover, the TikTok app stores US user data on servers in the US and Singapore. This suggests that nothing about the company’s American business goes to China. However, it appears that there is more about the situation that we do not know about.
