TikTok CEO resigns amid U.S. pressure on business

TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer has quit the company one day after the Los Angeles-based tech firm filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration over an executive order banning any transactions with its parent company ByteDance.

ByteDance confirmed the news to Xinhua on Wednesday night.

In a news release, ByteDance said the company respected Mayer’s decision and thanked him for his efforts for TikTok’s development, adding TikTok’s U.S. General Manager Vanessa Pappas will take up Mayer’s position and continue working as leader of the team in the country.

The 58-year-old Mayer joined TikTok on June 1. Prior to his appointment as the company’s CEO, he was chairman of the Direct-to-Consumer and International division of The Walt Disney Company.

Mayer on Wednesday sent a letter to employees, noting that ByteDance’s founder Zhang Yiming understood his decision and supported it, saying this decision “had nothing to do with the company, what I see for our future, or the belief I have in what we are building.”

“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. 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,” the letter reads.

“At the same time, I understand that the role that I signed up for — including running TikTok globally — will look very different as a result of the U.S. administration’s action to push for a sell-off of the U.S. business.”