Kevin Mayer, the head of Disney’s streaming division is stepping down from his position to join as the new CEO of the social video-sharing platform, TikTok. The news comes in amidst the COVID-19 outbreak which has been a critical time for many companies across the globe.
Mayer is said to carry out his position as chief executive officer (CEO) and chief operating officer (COO) of TikTok and ByteDance, a Chinese technology company and parent company of TikTok, respectively. In the time when many countries are following the guidelines of stay at home, there has been a massive amount of increase in the number of Tiktok users.
“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,” said Yiming Zhang, founder and CEO of ByteDance in a statement.
The responsibilities taken by Mayer will involve, driving the global development of ByteDance along with overseeing corporate functions including corporate development, sales, marketing, public affairs, and more. He is also said to lead music, gaming, Helo, and emerging businesses by the tech company.
“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,” said Kevin in a statement released by ByteDance.
Earlier in Disney, Mayer handled position as the head of the streaming division and was part of overseeing the successful launch of Disney+ in 2019. Besides, he also managed Hulu, Hotstar, and ESPN Plus. His position with the new company will be effective from June 1. In the US, the increase in popularity has led to intense scrutiny by the government owing to the company’s ties to China.
In India, the popularity of TikTok has been similar to the US, but recently the hashtags BanTikTokIndia have been trending, owing to the release of videos promoting acid attack, rape culture, and racism on the platform. On Tuesday, TikTok saw a major low in the ratings on the play store in the wake of BanTikTokIndia.