Disney’s Direct-to-Consumer International chairman, Kevin Mayer, is leaving the esteemed company to become the CEO of the short form video platform, TikTok. He is also taking on the role as the chief operating officer of ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company and Chinese internet giant, Variety confirms.
In his position as the Direct-to-Consumer chairman, Mayer was responsible for overseeing Disney’s international business units, multi-platform streaming services, including Disney Plus, technology, distribution, global content and advertising sales. This was an effort to cultivate and create personalized entertainment experiences to consumers around the world, The Walt Disney Company asserts.
Later in his career, he became the Executive Vice President of the Internet group and was responsible for the operations, business plans, creative direction and distribution of Disney’s prevalent websites such as ESPN.com and ABCNews.com, According to The Walt Disney Company,
Fulfilling Disney’s mission of maximizing their international media efforts by managing regional teams across the globe in Europe, Asia and Latin America, Mayer’s job also involved tasks that aided in supervising the company’s international channels, Variety states. Some of these channels include Fox Networks International that houses over 350 channels in 170 countries and Star India which has 69 channels reaching 720 million viewers a month across India and more than 100 other countries.
The Walt Disney Company also comments that the Direct-to-Consumer International segment houses global advertising sales and ad technology for all of Disney’s media properties including ABC, ESPN, Freeform, FX Networks, National Geographic and the Disney Channels. An extension of this segment of the company is its program-sales-operation which facilitates in the distribution of film and TV content to Disney Plus, Hulu, Movies Anywhere and other third party platforms.
Remarking Mayer’s contributing legacy to Disney, the company’s CEO, Bob Chapek, recounts Mayer as having had “an extraordinary impact on our company over the years,” he said in statement. “He has done a masterful job of overseeing and growing our portfolio of streaming services, while bringing together the creative and technological assets required to launch the hugely successful Disney Plus globally.”
Mayer’s duties now fall to the succeeding Disneyland Resort president, Rebecca Campbell, who has been with Disney for 23 years. Before her tenure as the resorts president, Campbell served as the president of Disney’s businesses in Europe, the Middle East and Africa and was responsible for launching Disney Plus in the region. Chapek regards Campbell as “an exceptionally talented and dedicated leader with a wealth of experience in media, operations and international businesses.”
Mayer will now work with ByteDance’s founder and CEO, Yiming Zhang who sternly believes that “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,” he mentioned.
Variety claims that the Disney veteran is also “thrilled to have the opportunity to join the amazing team at ByteDance…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,” Mayer iterated.
Mayer will officially join TikTok on June 1 in their new offices located in Culver City, California, Variety sources confirm.