Live data from Hacker News

TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer to leave the company

cnbc.com

61–70 of 242 posts

Re: TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer to leave the company

#61

If I were TikTok I would move my international operations to a European country that was friendly to me and then wait until the anti-China sentiment in the US settled and then try again. Rather that than force-selling the US part at a bargain price. Europe would love a social media giant that could match those of the US. And just behaved better than the US ones when it came to taxes and data privacy ...

If the US is really after TikTok that would probably be futile? Like when they’re after ZTE and Huawei.

Re: TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer to leave the company

#62
post #11

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 popu…

I think he's toast. Who would want to work for a guy who has a track record of jumping ship in the face of trouble?

Re: TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer to leave the company

#63
post #22
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What product? Disney is practically a sovereign country.

Movies formulated for mass appeal and merchandising. Theme parks that must remain open. A back catalog of tens of thousands of movies made since 1924 exclusively available through your Disney+ membership. Increasingly, all of American pop culture, super heroes, and sci-fi mythos. It's a bland brand, but I'm not sure Netflix is any better with their willingness to fund shows only as long as the cost to viewer ratio is…

Strong agree on Netflix - for streaming in the UK I use Sky Cinema and it's on another level.

Re: TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer to leave the company

#64
As a European I find this whole story very confusing. A president that can just force a specific company on very short notice to shut down operation, is very concerning.

What is even more concerning is that a lot of people here tend to agree because of the China thing.

If it is that important, why is there no law that enforces this?

Re: TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer to leave the company

#65
post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why hasn't this been a problem for Zoom? If somebody has data about government employees or even recordings of meetings then it is Zoom, not TikTok.

The joke is, kids/K-Pop fans communicated on TikTok to "prank" Trump by buying tickets to his rally and not showing up, making him look bad, and 10 days later Trump started roaring about the app. Of course Fox News, etc, claim "this Chinese app is subverting democracy", etc, but IMHO they were just using it to communicate...

I do, as an indian भारतीय think pretty low of Americans who would lap up propaganda because it comes from their preferred party.

When it's Bernie "open borders is a koch brothers idea" Sanders then he is a messsiah for the poor, but when it's trump, he's a dotard.

When it's Clinton "blacks are superpredators" , she's an angel, but when trump tries to give college fudings to blacks, he's racist.

Liberal leftists are living in their own world and their failure to accept truth is what causes them to be constantly outraged

Re: TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer to leave the company

#66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The joke is, kids/K-Pop fans communicated on TikTok to "prank" Trump by buying tickets to his rally and not showing up, making him look bad, and 10 days later Trump started roaring about the app. Of course Fox News, etc, claim "this Chinese app is subverting democracy", etc, but IMHO they were just using it to communicate...

I would hope the majority of people who are aware of international affairs do not think so lowly of the American people, so dimly of American government, and so shallowly of international politics, that they'd believe our president would (or be allowed to, for that matter) coordinate a government-wide subversion campaign with far-reaching consequences over a prank

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24290910

Re: TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer to leave the company

#67
post #9

I'm confused on why he's leaving. Is the political scope of the role too much for him and/or is this not the role he intended to occupy?

What's your annual rate for being caught in the middle of a geopolitical superpower dispute?

The guy cannot have NOT known that this was going to be part of the job. There have been grumblings about TikTok for over a year now, and while this has escalated of late, it was clearly already a big piece of the gig when he joined.

Re: TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer to leave the company

#68
post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 popu…

I think he's toast. Who would want to work for a guy who has a track record of jumping ship in the face of trouble?

I'm not sure you can blame him personally for the troubles... I mean it was pretty difficult to forsee, and almost impossible to mitigate a geopolitical war over your company...

Re: TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer to leave the company

#69
post #57

To me this reads as tiktok definitely being acquired. And as they negotiate with either Microsoft or Oracle it is becoming clear to Mayer that he will have more oversight and a greater focus on profitability over growth which isn't what he signed up for.

What in the world is Oracle going to do with TikTok? For both of these companies it seems like such a strange acquisition.

Re: TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer to leave the company

#70
post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why hasn't this been a problem for Zoom? If somebody has data about government employees or even recordings of meetings then it is Zoom, not TikTok.

WeChat is a more credible threat but the anglosphere media is mostly ignorant of them so TikTok it is.

The executive order targets wechat as well.
Post reply on HN