American CEO TikTok resigns after less than three months

The American CEO of TikTok, former Disney CEO Kevin Mayer, has decided to step down. That confirms parent company ByteDance after an email about the announcement leaked. Mayer had been employed since May this year.

Mayer says in that email published by Financial Times that his role is changing in the three months that he has been with TikTok. The point is that he is director of TikTok’s global operations while in the United States. The US government is urging ByteDance to sell the US operations and those in several other countries, otherwise it bans the app. TikTok has already been banned in India.

The director of ByteDance, Zhang Yiming, says in his own email that he understands the step. “The outcome we get due to political circumstances could have a significant impact on his job in any scenario.” Zhang goes on to say that ByteDance is trying to solve the problems in India and the US.

TikTok is going to challenge the US government’s steps in court. The pressure on TikTok is part of a larger trade battle between the United States and China, with the US exerting pressure by banning trade with Huawei, among other things.