Mayer Named CEO Of TikTok
• ByteDance Ltd., the parent company of wildly popular short-form video platform TikTok has named Disney executive Kevin Mayer as Chief Operating Officer, effective June 1. Mayer will also serve as CEO of TikTok.
Mayer is wrapping up his second stint as Disney, most recently as Chairman of Direct-to-Consumer & International, where he oversaw the launches of Disney+ and ESPN+ and the integration of Hulu. Before that he was the company’s Chief Strategy Officer. Commenting on his new opportunity, Mayer said, “I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to join the amazing team at ByteDance. Like everyone else, I’ve been impressed watching the company build something incredibly rare in TikTok — a creative, positive online global community — and I’m excited to help lead the next phase of ByteDance’s journey as the company continues to expand its breadth of products across every region of the world.”
Mayer will be based at the company’s new offices in Culver City, CA and report directly to ByteDance Founder & CEO Yiming Zhang, who said, “Kevin’s wealth of experience building successful global businesses makes him an outstanding fit for our mission of inspiring creativity for users globally. As one of the world’s most accomplished entertainment executives, Kevin is incredibly well placed to take ByteDance’s portfolio of products to… the next level™. I look forward to working very closely with Kevin on our global development and the next chapter of the ByteDance story.”
According to Variety, Mayer first joined Disney in 1993 to lead strategy and business development for the company’s Interactive/Internet and TV businesses worldwide. He was later named EVP of the Internet Group. Mayer left Disney in 2000 to become CEO of Clear Channel Interactive, followed two years later with a stint as partner with LEK Consulting. He rejoined Disney in 2005 as EVP of Corporate Strategy.
Concurrent with Mayer’s appointment, Alex Zhu, the current President of TikTok, will become ByteDance VP of Product & Strategy.
