Even if Kevin was to stay as TikTok CEO, he would have to leave his role as the COO of ByteDance. It’s totally understandable that he would want to leave given the reduced scope (no more head of a global company etc.). What seems suspicious however is why he would leave prior to an acquisition. As a CEO, that won’t reflect too good on his reputation... so there’s gotta be a tradeoff somewhere. Wait & see!
It might hurt his reputation to have left at a time like this, but I imagine not necessarily any worse than his reputation would wind up being if he stuck around at the helm for a pawn in a game between the US and Chinese governments. If an acquisition does actually materialize, which still seems to be a very big if, it would be under existential duress, which is not a favorable negotiating position. Despite its popularity and success, TikTok has been pulled into a completely different arena now, and its unclear that there are winning moves for it to make which aren’t contingent on a sudden shift in politics.