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Technology

TikTok CEO Mayer Quits After Three Months, Just as Firm Challenges US Ban (reuters.com) 37

TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer has left the Chinese-owned video app firm just three months since joining, and only days since the company sued the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump over an executive order effectively banning it in the United States. He will be replaced by U.S. General Manager Vanessa Pappas on an interim basis, TikTok said in a statement. From a report: The resignation comes at a tricky time for super-fast growing TikTok as it tries to persuade both the United States and India that it is not a security threat, while at the same time holding discussions with prospective buyers following a second U.S. order demanding the sale of its U.S. operations. Mayer was Walt Disney's top streaming executive before becoming chief executive officer of TikTok and chief operating officer of parent ByteDance on June 1. "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 said in a letter to employees.
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TikTok CEO Mayer Quits After Three Months, Just as Firm Challenges US Ban

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  • by Fly Swatter ( 30498 ) on Thursday August 27, 2020 @10:16AM (#60446308) Homepage
    He signed up to get paid and didn't expect to be the face of Chinese 'freedom'.

    At this point it looks better just to ban it, something else will take it's place if there truly is a market for whatever it is they do.
  • by Rosco P. Coltrane ( 209368 ) on Thursday August 27, 2020 @10:25AM (#60446354)

    He will be replaced by U.S. General Manager Vanessa Pappas

    Breaking the glass ceiling while the entire building is collapsing. That's gotta be a first.

    • Comment removed (Score:4, Interesting)

      by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Thursday August 27, 2020 @10:32AM (#60446380)
      Comment removed based on user account deletion
      • by ranton ( 36917 ) on Thursday August 27, 2020 @11:56AM (#60446718)

        For some reason it's actually quite common to put women in charge of businesses that are already in trouble. If sexism is the issue, it might be because nobody else wants the job. Or it might be some kind of Hail Mary that presumes with a gender change will come a difference in approach that matters in this context.

        There have been a number of theories of why women are more likely to be appointed to leadership roles in struggling companies than in stronger performing companies. One is that women (or minority) hires are a stronger sign of a change in direction if the last CEO was a traditional white male.

        Another is that when executives are asking the qualities needed to run a successful company, they use phrases which are associated to masculine qualities, like decisive. If a company is struggling, they use more feminine qualities like building consensus.

        Then there is the more simple reason that qualified women and minorities are more willing to take the risk to run a troubled company because this opportunity is more rare for them. A qualified white male may be more confident in waiting for the next opportunity.

        • by orlanz ( 882574 )

          If Brexit taught us anything, I think its really that LAST one. Men chicken out and women don't have as many options.

      • There's a name for this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]

  • by classiclantern ( 2737961 ) on Thursday August 27, 2020 @10:42AM (#60446418)
    Just "sell" India, the CIA, FBI, NSA, Five Eyes and all the other Bad Actors access to the Tic Tok servers and all these problems will vanish. They only want the data collected. That's how FaceBook stays in business. Selling everyone's private data to anyone with cash.
    • by orlanz ( 882574 )

      With one small twist, that would actually work. If a country wants access, they can't ban the app. If they don't want other countries to have access, they can ban it in their country to remove their users... and of course lose access to other's.

      I got a feeling the app will still be massively successful.

    • by ghoul ( 157158 )

      India is about to pass a law which says data of Indian residents needs to stay on servers in India which means Amazon, Google, Facebook, Twitter all have to set up servers in India or be shut out of the Indian market.
      Basically Indian govt wants the same powers the US govt has - get access to any data they want with a court order. Currently FB, Google can ignore Indian court orders as the servers are not in India.
      Eventually the world is going to move to a localized storage model.

  • Points for bailing out. Points deducted for having tried to play the game to begin with.
    • by ranton ( 36917 )

      Points for bailing out. Points deducted for having tried to play the game to begin with.

      The score he cares about are more likely related to his bank account. If he understood his role was to be a white male to be the face of the company to the current US administration, there was probably a good payout for him regardless of his success.

      • Yeah whatever. Being yet another Hunter Biden (or Ivanka Trump, if that helps you understand better) "isn't a good look" as the lefties like to say.
        • by ranton ( 36917 )

          Yeah whatever. Being yet another Hunter Biden (or Ivanka Trump, if that helps you understand better) "isn't a good look" as the lefties like to say.

          I guess my point is none of these people care about how you feel about their career choices. Not only was our opinion not considered, the very thought they might consider it wasn't considered. You almost certainly wouldn't care either if you start getting your consistent $100,000 bi-weekly paycheck, even if you think you would.

    • by ghoul ( 157158 )

      He had one job - divert US attention from the fact that Tiktok is Chinese owned. He failed. When Tiktok is forced to sell naturally the owners dont want him involved. So hes off in a huff.

      The alternate theory of course is Disney is going to buy Tiktok and he does not want to end up working for the person who got the Disney CEO job Meyer was passed over for.

  • If he knows they send data to China then it would explain why he's bailing, the easy CEO money train is coming to an end.
  • If targeting tiktok leads to better privacy laws and regulations to prevent data about Americans being sent overseas without informed consent then that is good. If it is a one-off and China and other countries get all sorts of data on us via American companies selling it to some subsidiary to launder... then still bad. We need to level the playing field for US companies and make sure that data about our personal habits doesn't get sent overseas where it can be used for espionage and hacking operations

    • by ceoyoyo ( 59147 )

      What are you worried about China doing with your information that you wouldn't be worried about with an American government or company?

    • by ghoul ( 157158 )

      India is trying to pass a law that Google and Facebook data of Indian residents needs to stay on Indian servers. The tech firms are lobbying hard against it to the extent Trump has put sanctions on India for trying to pass this law. Now US does not want US data to go to the servers of a Chinese company. Hypocricy unparalleld.

  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • A photo has surfaced showing top executives of ByteDance, the owner of video-sharing app TikTok, posing with Communist Party members and a communist flag [disrn.com] at the company's Beijing headquarters in 2019.

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