May 19 (UPI) — Micro video platform TikTok announced Monday that the company had hired Disney’s Head of Streaming, Kevin Mayer, to be the company’s new chief executive officer.
Mayer, 57, was also hired as chief operating officer of ByteDance, the Chinese parent company of TikTok, starting June 1, the company said.
Mayer will be in charge of expanding ByteDance’s footprint in music, gaming and other emerging businesses, a press release from the company said.
Mayer was passed over for CEO of Disney earlier this year, when Bob Chapek was named to replace chief Bob Iger.
“I enjoy my job, I admire Bob Chapek, and Disney’s a fabulous company,” Mayer told CNBC on Monday. “When you have an opportunity like this you don’t turn it down. I’m not getting any younger and it’s such a good opportunity. But I love Disney and had no desire to leave.”
Mayer was in charge of Disney’s November launch of its successful streaming platform, Disney+, which aims to compete with Netflix and had acquired more than 54 million subscribers as of early May.
Mayer oversaw Disney’s acquisitions of Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm, BAMTECH and 21st Century Fox, leading then-CEO Iger to call him a “master strategist and dealmaker.”
Disney’s stock fell nearly 1 percent in after-hours trading Monday following the announcement, the Wall Street Journal reported.
