Kevin Mayer, CEO of TikTok, has resigned when the famous Chinese video-sharing app came into a bunch of backlashes from the American President Trump.
TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer has quit as the Chinese-owned video sharing app faces enormous backlash and threats of a ban from President Trump https://t.co/prUgrMYvhu
— CNN Breaking News (@cnnbrk) August 27, 2020
Kevin Mayer described to employees that in previous weeks, when the political situation has abruptly changed, he has done important reflection on what the company structural changes will need, and what it means for the whole world’s role he signed up for.
He added that against this background and as they expect to resolve very soon, and it is with a huge heart that he wanted to let employees know that he has decided to leave the firm.
TikTok previously hired Kevin Mayer
TikTok’s company hired the former top Disney executive, Kevin Mayer, fewer than 4 months before to operate the app, which is previously owned by a Chinese firm to get important traction in western nations. Moreover, as his CEO responsibilities, he became COO (Chief Operating Officer) of the TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance.
From that time, TikTok has taken under many problems from the American government, and President Donald Trump has threatened to restrict the TikTok app if it doesn’t sell by the parent company.
In a statement, a spokesman of TikTok said that they appreciate that the political dynamics of the previous few months have massively changed what the scope of Kevin Mayer’s role would be going forward, and entirely respect his decision.
Although before the arrival of President Trump’s executive orders about TikTok’s ban, the firm was reconsidering about its structure. In early July, the Wall Street Journal confirmed that the parent company was thinking of launching a head office for the TikTok outside of China and also a novel management board to distance its services from China. Furthermore, a spokesman of TikTok described to a media company, CNN, at a time that the company was examining changes.
The return of Kevin Mayer would be a significant setback for the firm, said Edith Yeung, the person who spent many years investing in Chinese firms. Besides this, she holds a partnership with Race Capital, producing in many United States companies.
She said that a leader couldn’t plunge ship in a highly critical time for the firm. President Trump’s executive orders say, video app TikTok poses the country’s security risk because the application gathers a lot of data from users, which risks permitting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) access to United States’ personal and proprietary information.