News! Former Disney Chairman Named CEO of TikTok

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Today, Disney announced a new leadership team including Josh D’Amaro in his new position as Chairman of Disney Parks, Experiences, and Products.

@joshdamaro on Instagram

Other members include Rebecca Campbell, Jeff Vahle, Kareem Daniel, and Thomas Mazloum. Campbell took on the position of chairman of Disney’s Direct-to-Consumer and International, which was formerly held by Kevin Mayer. However, Mayer is moving on to a position with a popular video service.

According to Variety, Mayer stepped away from The Walt Disney Company to assume the role of chief executive officer at the “short-form video platform,” TikTok. He will also be taking on the position of chief operating officer at TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance.

Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Disney

ByteDance CEO stated, “Kevin’s wealth of experience building successful global businesses makes him an outstanding fit for our mission of inspiring creativity for users globally. 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.”

Mayer will support ByteDance by overseeing TikTok, music, gaming, Helo, and other new ByteDance businesses. He is scheduled to start officially working with the company in Los Angeles on June 1st.

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Mayer spoke out on his new position by stating “I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to join the amazing team at ByteDance. Like everyone else, I’ve been impressed watching the company build something incredibly rare in TikTok — a creative, positive online global community — and 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.”

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Kevin Mayer started working with Disney in 1993, but left in 2000 to become the CEO of Clear Channel Interactive. He returned to Disney in 2005 as EVP of corporate strategy. Most recently, Mayer oversaw Disney’s launch of Disney+ and ESPN+.

©Disney

Disney CEO, Bob Chapek, stated “Kevin has had an extraordinary impact on our company over the years…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.”

Former Disneyland President, Rebecca Campbell, will take on Mayer’s previous role at The Disney Company.

You can read more about Disney’s new leadership team here!

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