Kevin A. Mayer


Kevin A. Mayer is an American businessman and the CEO of TikTok and COO of its parent company ByteDance Ltd. 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. He also directed the divestitures of Miramax and ABC Radio.

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.

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.
Mayer was then named Chief Executive Officer of Playboy.com, the digital subsidiary of Chicago's Playboy Enterprises in February 2000.
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.
He joined L.E.K. Consulting as a partner and head of the global media and entertainment practice in February 2002.
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. 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. 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.
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 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.