After 23 years with Disney, Kevin Mayer is departing his current role as head of the company’s streaming division. Mayer will take over as CEO of the rapidly growing short-form video social networking service TikTok.
In addition to his new position with TikTok, Mayer will also become the COO of its parent company ByteDance, a Chinese tech group. Both are newly created roles that will see Mayer report to ByteDance founder and CEO Yiming Zhang.
“Kevin’s wealth of experience building successful global businesses makes him an outstanding fit for our mission of inspiring creativity for users globally,” Yiming said in a statement. “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. I look forward to working very closely with Kevin on our global development and the next chapter of the ByteDance story.”
With Disney, Mayer had a significant impact in developing their streaming infrastructure, overseeing the launch of ESPN+ and Disney+, along with their addition of Hulu. Mayer’s long list of contributions to Disney labeled him the favorite to succeed Bob Iger as the company’s CEO, but the position was instead given to Bob Chapek, then the head of its parks and resorts division. Iger has since returned to Disney as Executive Chairman, to help navigate the COVID-19 pandemic.
As Mayer departs Disney, Chapek has named Rebecca Campbell as his successor for the company’s streaming role. Like Mayer, Campbell has been with Disney for 23 years.
