TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer gets out of Donald Trump's firing line, resigns

Former Disney executive quits just 4 months after appointment by Chinese video platform

TikTok Chief Executive Officer Kevin Mayer has resigned just months after taking the helm of the viral short video app, stepping out of the crossfire as the Trump administration targets the business owned by China’s ByteDance.

Mayer told employees of his decision in an internal memo and a company spokeswoman confirmed his resignation. Vanessa Pappas, currently general manager of ByteDance’s prized international service, will take his place.

Mayer’s departure adds to the turmoil engulfing the world’s largest startup, which is grappling with the forced sale of operations in the U.S., possible restrictions in the U.K. and an outright ban in India, TikTok’s largest market. ByteDance appointed Mayer in May to try and smooth relations with Washington, attempting to make the case that TikTok operates as a separate entity from its Beijing-based parent to assuage concerns about national security.

Yet mere months later, the Trump administration forbade US dealings with the viral video app and ordered its sale. That impending ban cast TikTok into the heart of worsening tensions between Beijing and Washington, which has levelled sanctions against a plethora of its fellow Chinese giants from Tencent Holdings to Huawei Technologies.

“In recent weeks, as the political environment has sharply changed, 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,” Mayer said in an internal memo obtained by Bloomberg News. “I understand that the role that I signed up for — including running TikTok globally — will look very different as a result of the US administration’s action to push for a sell off of the US business.” The executive left one of the top jobs at The Walt Disney for TikTok.