Just three months after being hired, TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer has stepped down from the company as it becomes embroiled in a legal battle with the US Government.
TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer has resigned amidst mounting pressure from US President Donald Trump around the banning of the app in the United States.
Mayer had only been with the company for a couple of months and the news was revealed in a letter to TikTok employees and its Chinese parent company, ByteDance.
Previously head of streaming services at Disney, Mayer joined the company in May.
“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 wrote in the letter, as reported by Business Insider.
“Against this backdrop, and as we expect to reach a resolution very soon, it is with a heavy heart that I wanted to let you all know that I have decided to leave the company.”
BREAKING: TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer resigns
story coming
— rat king (@MikeIsaac) August 27, 2020
Mayer added that ByteDance CEO, Zhang Yiming, is understanding of the decision.
The news comes after Donald Trump announced that he would be banning the app in the United States within 90 days unless ByteDance sold its US assets to an American company. So far Microsoft has been the biggest contender.
According to the Financial Times, an inside source described that the unfolding events between TikTok and the US Government put Mayer in a “sensitive political zone” between China and the US.
It comes after TikTok announced it is suing the US government for the denial of due process, in an attempt to halt the ban.
