TikTok CEO quits following backlash from US president

Former Disney executive Kevin Mayer was hired as a CEO of TikTok back in mid-May, and he is already stepping down. In a memo to employees, quoted by CNN Business, he details the reasoning behind the move less than four months after being appointed into the position.

The message said that following the “sharp change” of the political environment, Mayer has done “significant reflection on what the corporate structural changes will require”, and in the end decided to leave the company.

The TikTok app

A TikTok spokesperson’s statement said the platform appreciates the political dynamics of the last few months and it changed the scope of Kevin Mayer’s role. He was also appointed as a COO of ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, but we’re yet to learn whether he’ll keep this position.

TikTok has been pushed to sell its US business to an American company in order to keep operating on US soil, otherwise, the President of the United States would have to sign an executive order, effectively banning the platform. The latest information is that Oracle is moving into purchasing the business and thus saving TikTok.

If that happens, the California-based software company likely would’ve changed the CEO either way, so Mayer’s departure isn’t a huge surprise.

Via