Nuked Kevin Mayer is out as TikTok’s CEO less than four months after taking the job. His resignation comes in the middle of ongoing political turmoil brought on by the Trump administration.
Mayer said in an email to staff:’it is with a heavy heart that I wanted to let you all know that I have decided to leave the company’.
Mayer became TikTok’s CEO on June 1st, tasked with helping the company navigate choppy political waters in the U.S.. at the same time, he was also named chief operating officer of vancedance, giving him the executive reins of a global company. Just three months earlier, Mayer was passed over for CEO after Bob Iger stepped down.
A Disney employee within the company’s streaming division, who asked to remain anonymous, told the verge of landing in quicksand.’he thought the grass was greener on the other side, so he hopped the fence and landed in quicksand,’ he said.
Reports suggest that Mayer was not included in recent talks with two top TikTok suitors, Microsoft and Oracle. That he was left out of the loop likely boded poorly for Mayer’s future in what was supposed to be a broad and increasingly powerful role.
Tiktok saw rapid growth between October 2019 and June 2020. Advertisers are flocking to the app. Creators are building actual careers through their followings.
Mayer was not likely to get the same lofty position from TikTok’s buyer. Being a divisional CEO as opposed to the CEO was likely a major calculus in that decision.
Mayer was put in charge of segments as broad as’music, gaming’ and’emerging businesses’. Without softwaredance, Mayer’s position looks a whole lot smaller.
The move would have a’significant impact’ on Mayer’s job. Mayer’s global role is based in the US.
Once TikTok is acquired, Mayer could end up reporting to someone who likely wants to use TikTok for a different strategy,’ says Tal Chalozin, chief technology officer at Innovid.
‘he does n’t want to be known as the guy who succeeded at Disney but could n’t do TikTok’.
Chalozin and Stafford both think that Mayer will be fine. He is known as one of the smartest strategists working.
Vanessa Pappas will be interim CEO of TikTok for the time being. Pappas has worked with the platform since 2018, becoming the platform’s general manager in January 2019.
Pappas is arguably more associated with the company than Mayer was in his fewer-than-100 days on the job. Pappas is’just as prepared to usher the business through a transaction as anyone else’.
The TikTok team has worked tirelessly to make this platform a place of joy for hundreds of millions of people around the world.’the future for TikTok is bright,’ Pappas said.
Randy freer left his position as Hulu’s CEO after Disney acquired majority ownership. Bob Greenblatt and Kevin Reilly were ousted just months after he took over as CEO of warnermedia.
Microsoft has a history of keeping the current team.’it’s as much the philosophy of the acquirer as anything else’.
If Microsoft or Oracle want to keep TikTok as is, Pappas could stay in the role. Walmart saw it as a potential e-commerce platform more than anything else.
