CEO TikTok quit his job after only a few months in office

In his staff letter, Mr. Mayer mentioned the political environment that has changed radically in recent weeks and reconsidered the changes required in the corporate structure, as well as his role in TikTok. He believes that the global executive position of TikTok will be very different, as a result of the recent action of the US authorities on the company.

Mr. Mayer joined TikTok in May 2020 after leaving the position of Content Director at Disney, where he was in charge of launching the Disney + service. He was also a key figure in major Disney deals such as the 2009 acquisition of Marvel Entertainment, 2012 Lucasfilm, and 21st Century Fox in 2019. He left Disney shortly after Bob Chapek was appointed as Disney’s new CEO. Mr. Mayer was considered a candidate for this position.

A TikTok spokesman confirmed Mr. Mayer would leave TikTok. General Manager in the US Vanessa Pappas will temporarily assume the position of CEO of TikTok.

Previously, the administration of Donald Trump pressed ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, to fully divest from TikTok in the US because of threats to national security. In the executive decree issued on August 6, the United States accused China of having access to exclusive and personal information about Americans because of the data that TikTok collects.

For its part, TikTok repeatedly denied the allegations and asserted that US user data was stored on domestic servers and backed up in Singapore. The TikTok data center is also located outside of China, and stressed that TikTok’s information is not subject to Chinese law enforcement. However, experts point out that existing legislation in the mainland could force Chinese companies like ByteDance to hand over data to the government.

ByteDance is in talks with Microsoft, Oracle and other investors to sell TikTok operations in the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Based on the August 6 ordinance, the sale must be approved by September 15 or else it will be banned in the US.

On August 24, TikTok officially sued the US government for violating the process. The lawsuit could delay the ban, giving TikTok more time to discuss terms in his favor.