Kevin A. Mayer

Kevin A. Mayer (born 1962) is an American businessman and the CEO of Chinese social networking service TikTok and COO of its parent company ByteDance Ltd based in Beijing. Prior to his appointment as TikTok CEO, Mayer was the Chairman of Direct-to-Consumer & International division of The Walt Disney Company. He was previously the senior executive vice president and chief strategy officer of Disney where he managed their acquisitions of Pixar, Marvel Entertainment, Lucasfilm, and 21st Century Fox.[1] He also directed the divestitures of Miramax and ABC Radio.

Kevin A. Mayer
Born
United States
Alma materBSME, MIT; MSSE, San Diego State University; MBA, Harvard University
Occupationbusiness executive
EmployerByteDance
TitleCEO of TikTok

Early life and education

Mayer earned a bachelor of science in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a master of science from San Diego State University, as well as an MBA from Harvard Business School.[2]

Business career

In 1993, Kevin Mayer got a job at The Walt Disney Company handling strategy and business development for Disney's Interactive/Internet and television businesses worldwide. He later was promoted to head up Disney Internet group as executive vice president.[2]

Mayer was then named Chief Executive Officer of Playboy.com, the digital subsidiary of Chicago's Playboy Enterprises in February 2000.[3][4]

In September 2000, Mayer left Playboy and was appointed Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Clear Channel Interactive, a division of Clear Channel Worldwide. He served in that position until December 2001.[5]

He joined L.E.K. Consulting LLC as a partner and head of the global media and entertainment practice in February 2002.[6]

Mayer rejoined The Walt Disney Company as Executive Vice President, Corporate Strategy, Business Development, and Technology in June 2005 the designated in October 2005 as an executive officer.[6] Mayer was involved with the purchases of Pixar, Marvel Entertainment, Lucasfilm, Club Penguin and Maker Studios, as well as its agreement reached in December 2017 to acquire most of the 21st Century Fox assets.[1] In 2010, he arranged the sale of Miramax to Filmyard Holdings, a group of business including Ronald Tutor of Tutor-Saliba and Tutor Perini construction companies, Colony Capital and its chairman Tom Barrack and ex-Disney CFO Richard Nanula.[7]

In March of 2018, Mayer was named chairman of Walt Disney Direct-to-Consumer & International, a new segment division, which would include various streaming businesses, international channels, ad sales and distribution. In this new position, Mayer would continue to report to then Disney CEO Bob Iger.[1]

In May of 2020, Mayer resigned from The Walt Disney Company to become COO of Chinese internet technology company ByteDance Ltd., where he will also serve as CEO of its popular social media app TikTok, reporting directly to ByteDance CEO Zhang Yiming.[8]

References
  1. Spangler, Todd (March 14, 2018). "Disney Reorganizes Divisions, Creates Dedicated Direct-to-Consumer Streaming Unit". Variety. Retrieved November 12, 2018.
  2. "Kevin Mayer Chairman, Direct - to - Consumer and International" (PDF). thewaltdisneycompany.com. The Walt Disney Company. Retrieved November 12, 2018.
  3. Rachel Emma Silverman, Rachel (February 22, 2000). "Playboy's Online Unit Names Mayer, Formerly With Go Network, as CEO". Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones & Company. Retrieved 13 July 2019.
  4. "The Walt Disney Company Announces Leadership For New Corporate Strategy, Business Development & Technology Group". The Walt Disney Company. 2005-06-30. Retrieved 2019-08-26.
  5. "Clear Channel Names Kevin Mayer Chairman and CEO of Internet Group". Playbill. September 4, 2000. Retrieved 13 July 2019.
  6. "Kevin A. Mayer Profile". Forbes. Archived from the original on May 31, 2012. Retrieved November 12, 2018.
  7. Solman, Gregory; Weinstein, Joshua L. (December 9, 2010). "Disney deals". Variety. Retrieved November 12, 2018.
  8. Barnes, Brooks (2020-05-18). "Disney's Head of Streaming Is New TikTok C.E.O." The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-05-18.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.