Tik Tok is slowly falling apart. Amid the legal battles to continue operating in the US, the social media giant has announced that one of its top executives is leaving. Kevin Mayer, CEO of Tik Tok has decided to quit the company after just a few months of joining. Here’s what you have to know.
May 18, 2020- Mayer Leaves Disney
Kevin Mayer joined Tik Tok last May. Prior to this, he was the head of streaming for Disney. It makes sense right? He specializes in the thing that makes Tik Tok relevant up to this day. Mayer resigned from Disney to pursue a position in the Chinese app.
He climbed aboard as Tik Tok’s CEO and as ByteDance’s (Tik Tok’s parent company) chief operating officer.
August 27, 2020- Mayer Leaves Tik Tok
100 days after he joined Tik Tok, Mayer decided to call it quits. The news came right after tensions between China and the USA exponentially grew awry. As you could recall, the Trump administration has made it clear that it wants to shut Tik Tok down.
The US has cited that the mobile app could put the lives of millions of Americans in danger. They called the app a “security threat” to the country. There was one proposition though: Sell the American operations of Tik Tok to an American company. Since the news broke out, many companies have been chasing after the social media giant.
According to Mayer, he did his due reflection on what will happen amidst the tension between the two countries. He said:
“I have done significant reflection on what the corporate structural changes will require, and what it means for the global role I signed up for,”
The Future of Tik Tok
Tik Tok’s fate hangs in the balance. We are yet to find out what will happen. High profile companies like Microsoft have expressed their intentions to purchase the social media platform. Oracle also expressed their intent in the past. Experts project that Tik Tok has an estimated valuation of $50 billion as of today. It will surely be a blow to ByteDance’s company value.
While we await Tik Tok’s future, read here about the executive order signed by Trump against Tik Tok.
Opinions expressed by AsianBlurb contributors are their own.
Zakary Kelley is a technology reporter for Business Blurb covering social media and the digital products that are changing our lives.
