Less than three months after joining, TikTok CEO Kevin Meyer decided to resign. In the early morning of August 27th, US time, Mayer sent a resignation email to the company’s employees.
In the letter, Meyer specifically mentioned that making this decision has nothing to do with the company, nor with how he views the company’s future or the present. He said: “In recent weeks, the macro environment has changed and the company may need to make some adjustments. My position will be affected. After thinking about this, I decided to leave.”
Not long after Mayer’s resignation letter was released, Zhang Yiming, the founder of Bytedance, also responded to the matter by email. Zhang Yiming expressed his understanding of Mayer’s decision. He said: “I fully understand that the political situation we encounter will pose a huge challenge to his work, especially since he is in the United States and is responsible for global business.”
At the same time, Zhang Yiming also announced that after Kevin Mayer resigned, Vanessa Pappas, the former TikTok US general manager, would temporarily take over as TikTok’s global head and continue to lead the TikTok US team.
Disney executives with high hopes
Regarding Kevin Mayer’s short career experience at TikTok, Zhang Yiming’s comment is, “He joined us when we encountered the biggest challenge.”
On May 19 this year, ByteDance issued an announcement stating that Kevin Mayer, who was the head of Disney’s streaming media business, joined ByteDance. From June 1st, Meyer officially became TikTok CEO, and also served as ByteDance COO, reporting directly to Zhang Yiming.
Joined Bytedance, Kevin Meyer’s specific position is responsible for the company’s TikTok, Helo, music, games and other businesses. At the same time, Meyer is also responsible for Bytedance’s global functional departments (excluding China), including corporate development, sales, public affairs, security, and legal affairs.
Before joining ByteDance, Kevin Mayer worked at Disney for more than 20 years, serving as senior executive vice president and chief strategy officer of Disney. At Disney, Meyer was responsible for corporate strategy, business development and other departments, and promoted Disney’s acquisitions of Pixar Animation, Marvel, Lucasfilm, and 21st Century Fox.
Meyer has also led streaming services such as Hulu, ESPN+ and Hotstar, as well as international operations, global content and advertising sales. In 2018, Mayer served as chairman of Disney’s consumer and international business, focusing on the development of streaming media service Disney+.
Meyer was once seen as a potential successor to the post of Disney CEO. In February of this year, Bob Chapek, head of the theme park experience and product department, was appointed as the next CEO, but Meyer regretted “losing the election.” Four months later, he joined TikTok as CEO.
When joining ByteDance, Meyer said: “TikTok has created a creative and positive global online community. This is a very rare achievement that refreshes everyone. I am very excited to participate in ByteDance Next. Stages of development.”
Zhang Yiming also said: “The joining of Kevin Mayer will bring us his successful experience in global business and help us continue to build a world-class management team. Looking forward to working with Kevin Mayer, Continue to promote the company’s global development.”
Obviously, letting Bytes jump to the world and allowing TikTok’s business to spread globally is what Meyer thinks is more exciting. In the resignation letter, Meyer said: “I have always viewed my work with a global perspective. Leading a TikTok global team including the US branch is very meaningful to me.”
However, in addition to holding up the banner of TikTok’s globalization, the outside world believes that the greater significance of Kevin Mayer’s joining ByteDance is to “partially resolve American politicians’ security concerns about TikTok.”
In Kevin Mayer’s short three-month tenure, in addition to being responsible for TikTok’s market expansion, the CEO was more to solve the geopolitical background, TikTok faced the problem of blocking this product from the US and Indian governments.
For TikTok, the normal operation of security products at this stage is obviously a more important proposition than market expansion and user growth.
Weak and tired of coping
Less than a month after Kevin Mayer took office, on June 29, the Indian government announced that TikTok was officially banned. At the time in the United States, TikTok was also in a disadvantaged situation. TikTok’s intensive and direct match with the White House continued throughout July this year.
As early as July 6, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in an interview with the media that he was considering banning Chinese social applications such as TikTok. Then, the White House’s “boycott” against TikTok began to move towards economic and legislative restrictions in the third week of July.
The US House of Representatives and the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs have successively passed bills prohibiting federal employees from using TikTok on government equipment. TikTok’s situation took a turn for the worse.
Until July 31, Trump issued an ultimatum to TikTok, demanding that Bytedance sell TikTok’s US business within a limited time.
In August, the Trump administration’s ban on TikTok began to move from public opinion to administrative sanctions. On August 6th and August 14th, Trump issued two consecutive executive orders on blocking TikTok’s business in the United States.
Facing the sudden turn of the situation, Kevin Mayer has been working hard to solve the challenge that TikTok may be banned. He wrote to the Indian government stating that the Chinese government has never asked the company to provide TikTok Indian user data.
According to reports, in June of this year, Kevin Mayer also met with senior EU officials to discuss solving the problem of false information on social platforms. In recent years, one of the important tasks of the EU is to maintain close ties with major technology companies.
In the United States, Kevin Mayer is also actively using the media to inform the public of TikTok’s actions to protect data privacy. In an article at the end of July, Meyer wrote: “Tiktok has activated the Transparency and Accountability Center, and relevant parties can check TikTok’s audit strategy and actual code at any time.”
Kevin Mayer is also responding to misunderstandings and slanders about Tiktok. For example, in the face of the dirty water of Facebook founder Zuckerberg, Meyer said: “We will devote more energy to consumer service and fair and open competition. Instead of pretending to be patriots like Facebook does. , Maliciously attacked TikTok and prevented TikTok from developing and competing in the US market.”
Under Mayer’s leadership, TikTok also recruited a lobby of more than 35 people to launch an offensive against the White House. Today, the game between TikTok and the Trump administration has reached the stage of litigation. On August 24, TikTok formally sued the Trump administration on the grounds that the ban was unconstitutional.
Vanessa Pappas, general manager of TikTok USA, will temporarily take over as TikTok’s global head and continue to lead the TikTok US team | TikTok
Also entering August, Kevin Mayer publicly responded to TikTok-related matters less frequently. More of it was presented by Vanessa Pappas, the general manager of TikTok USA.
According to the “Financial Times” report, Mayer had no idea that he would be involved in the tensions between China and the United States. He started to leave after Trump’s presidential order was issued in early August. Until August 27, Mayer officially announced his resignation. In the resignation letter, Meyer also mentioned that in the context of the dramatic changes in the geopolitical environment, “we will also see the final results of TikTok soon.”
Zhang Yiming also stated in the latest open letter: “We are moving quickly to find solutions to the problems we are facing globally, especially in India and the United States. I can’t say too much now. But I can guarantee that we are seeking to meet users , Creators, partners, and employees.”
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