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XColumn: Kevin Mayer's Exit and What's Next in the TikTok Saga

When news broke late Wednesday night that Kevin Mayer had resigned from TikTok after just under three months as its CEO, I was shocked. Kevin does not just quit anything.
I know, because I worked closely under him while he was the chief strategy officer at Disney.
There, Mayer was known as a mergers and acquisitions (M&A) wizard. Pixar, Marvel, and Star Wars — some of the global franchises behind the unparalleled box office success and theme park attendance — were all Kevin. He was also known as an innovator. While other media companies clung to the traditional cable bundle, Kevin knew Disney needed to adapt and he pursued that belief with unrelenting conviction.
When we initially pitched Bob Iger on taking Disney's content direct years ago, the idea was met with resistance. But Kevin continued to make the case for change. Before every board meeting, he prepared TV channel subscriber loss analyses. In conversations, he relentlessly highlighted how Netflix and other tech companies would soon be key competitors. Slowly, he convinced key stakeholders at Disney that direct-to-consumer was the future, ultimately becoming chairman of the DTC & international business unit. You might have heard of a little service called Disney+. Like I said, Kevin doesn't quit.
With such a career as an unparalleled strategic thinker, it is no surprise that Kevin wanted to be a CEO. He said as much in the farewell note he sent Wednesday night to Bytedance employees: "I've always been globally focused in my work, and leading a global team that includes TikTok US was a big draw for me."
TikTok was his first foray into the top job, mostly because he got passed over for the role at Disney, which was a shock not just to me, but — let's face it — Wall Street.
So it begs the question: For someone who always sticks to his guns, what is really going on with the TikTok departure?
First, as with most threads in 2020, the TikTok soap opera is in a very different place than it was in June. Growth and legitimacy in the U.S. government's eyes are no longer the primary goals as they were when Kevin was hired. Instead, TikTok finds itself amid one of the most politically charged firesales in recent history.
With a sale of TikTok imminent, no one knows whether the acquiring company will have the same strategic vision as Bytedance did when they hired Kevin. But the new owner's first task will be to rebuild the engineering team and potentially that all-important algorithm, in addition to addressing data security concerns. Kevin may be able to handle that task, but unlike the growth-focused mandate for which he was hired, this is not an area in which he has a wealth of experience. The optics of his ties to China-based parent company Bytedance Ltd. as their COO may not have helped matters, either.
Come mid-September, Kevin's role would have looked dramatically different. As a leader who has always been focused on growth, spending the next few years playing political defense and proving to the U.S. government that the app's underlying code and data is secure — while Instagram, Triller and the next TBD social media craze gobbles up market share unchecked — is not what he signed up for.
From that perspective, Kevin's departure was the logical next step for him and for Bytedance.
But the news that ByteDance largely left Kevin out of the M&A talks is less logical.
ByteDance CEO Zhang Yiming instead reportedly led the effort. When you have an M&A wizard on your team whose record is as storied as Kevin's, you put him in the game. So if he was indeed benched, I can't help but wonder why. Was it that he was on the job for a mere two months when this all started? Or perhaps it was the compounding challenges of integrating into a new business and never meeting his colleagues in person?
Leaving mid-transaction is never ideal. But with all that noise in the background, Kevin may have wanted to leave the company on his own terms rather than report to Microsoft, Oracle, PE funds or worse. As the leader who built Disney+ and armed the media giant with its mega franchises, can you blame him for leaving?
While there will undoubtedly be more twists and turns in the TikTok soap opera, including the likely imminent announcement of a buyer, one thing is certain: This is not the last we will hear of Kevin Mayer. I, for one, can't wait to see where he goes next. But for the moment, TikTok might need more of a regulator than an innovator at its helm to put out its political fires.
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Kelly O'Grady heads up video for dot.LA and serves as chief host & correspondent. You can watch her speak about TikTok here. Find her on Instagram @kfogrady and email her at kelly@dot.LA.
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- Kevin Mayer Leaves Disney for TikTok - dot.LA ›
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This Week in ‘Raises’: Improvado Hauls $22M, Clearlake Launches $14B Fund
Kristin Snyder is an editorial intern for dot.la. She previously interned with Tiger Oak Media and led the arts section for UCLA's Daily Bruin.
This week in “Raises”: A pair of Web3 platforms for gamers landed funding, as did a Manhattan Beach medical startup looking to bolster primary care via nurse practitioners. Meanwhile, a Santa Monica-based investment firm launched its seventh fund with more than $14 billion in dry powder.
Venture Capital
Improvado, a marketing data aggregation platform, raised $22 million in a Series A funding round led by Updata Partners.
Web3 gaming platform FreshCut raised $15 million in funding led by Galaxy Interactive, Animoca Brands and Republic Crypto.
Medical startup Greater Good Health raised $10 million in a funding round led by LRVHealth.
Joystick, a Web3 platform for gamers and creators, raised $8 million in seed funding.
Open source data protection company CipherMode Labs raised $6.7 million in seed funding led by Innovation Endeavors .
Mobile phone charging network ChargeFUZE raised $5 million in seed funding led by Beverly Pacific, TR Ventures, VA2, Jason Goldberg and Al Weiss.
Polygon, a startup aiming to better diagnose children with learning disabilities, raised $4.2 million in seed and pre-seed funding led by Spark Capital and Pear VC.
Pique, a virtual women's sexual health clinic, raised $4 million in a seed funding round led by Maveron.
Psudo, a sneaker startup that utilizes recycled water bottles and 3D sublimation printing to create its shoes, raised $3 million in a seed funding round led by SternAegis Ventures.
Funds
Santa Monica-based investment firm Clearlake Capital Group raised $14.1 billion for its seventh flagship fund.
Raises is dot.LA’s weekly feature highlighting venture capital funding news across Southern California’s tech and startup ecosystem. Please send fundraising news to Kristin Snyder (kristinsnyder@dot.la).Kristin Snyder is an editorial intern for dot.la. She previously interned with Tiger Oak Media and led the arts section for UCLA's Daily Bruin.
LA Tech ‘Moves’: New Head of Originals at Snap, New President at FaZe Clan
Kristin Snyder is an editorial intern for dot.la. She previously interned with Tiger Oak Media and led the arts section for UCLA's Daily Bruin.
“Moves”, our roundup of job changes in L.A. tech, is presented by Interchange.LA, dot.LA's recruiting and career platform connecting Southern California's most exciting companies with top tech talent. Create a free Interchange.LA profile here—and if you're looking for ways to supercharge your recruiting efforts, find out more about Interchange.LA's white-glove recruiting service by emailing Sharmineh O’Farrill Lewis (sharmineh@dot.la). Please send job changes and personnel moves to moves@dot.la.
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FaZe Clan brought on Zach Katz as the gaming and media company’s new president and chief operating officer. Katz was previously the chief executive officer of the music tech investment fund Raised in Space Enterprises.
TikTok brand factory LINK Agency promoted Dustin Poteet to chief creative officer. Poteet was previously creative director at the firm.
Livestream shopping platform Talkshoplive hired Tradesy co-founder John Hall as its chief technology officer. Universal Music Group Nashville's former vice president of digital marketing, Tony Grotticelli, also joins the company as vice president of marketing.
Anjuli Millan will take over as head of original content at Snap after three years of overseeing production for the division.
Tech and media company Blavity hired Nikki Crump as general manager of agency. Crump joins the company from Burrell Communications Group.
O'Neil Digital Solutions, which provides customer communications and experience management for the health care industry, hired Eric Ramsey as national account sales executive. Ramsey joins from T/O Printing.
Investment firm Cresset Partners named Tammy Funasaki as managing director of business development. Funasaki previously served as head of investor relations for Breakwater Management.
- LA Tech Updates: Artie Closes $10M Seed Round; FaZe Clan Has a ... ›
- FaZe Clan Announces Immersive Pop-Up Shop - dot.LA ›
Kristin Snyder is an editorial intern for dot.la. She previously interned with Tiger Oak Media and led the arts section for UCLA's Daily Bruin.
Snapchat’s New Controls Could Let Parents See Their Kids’ Friend Lists
Christian Hetrick is dot.LA's Entertainment Tech Reporter. He was formerly a business reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer and reported on New Jersey politics for the Observer and the Press of Atlantic City.
Snapchat is preparing to roll out enhanced parental controls that would allow parents to see who their teenagers are chatting with on the social media app, according to screenshots of the upcoming feature.
Snap’s parental controls.
Courtesy of Watchful.
Snapchat is planning to introduce Family Center, which would allow parents to see who their children are friends with on the app and who they’ve messaged within the last seven days, according to screenshots provided by Watchful, a product intelligence company. Parents would also be able help their kids report abuse or harassment.
The parental controls are still subject to change before finally launching publicly, as the Family Center screenshots—which were first reported by TechCrunch—reflect features that are still under development.
Santa Monica-based Snap and other social media giants have faced mounting criticism for not doing more to protect their younger users—some of whom have been bullied, sold deadly drugs and sexually exploited on their platforms. State attorneys general have urged Snap and Culver City-based TikTok to strengthen their parental controls, with both companies’ apps especially popular among teens.
A Snap spokesperson declined to comment on Friday. Previously, Snap representatives have told dot.LA that the company is developing tools that will provide parents with more insight into how their children are engaging on Snapchat and allow them to report troubling content.
Yet Snap’s approach to parental controls could still give teens some privacy, as parents wouldn’t be able to read the actual content of their kids’ conversations, according to TechCrunch. (The Family Center screenshots seen by dot.LA do not detail whether parents can see those conversations).
In addition, teenage users would first have to accept an invitation from their parents to join the in-app Family Center before those parents can begin monitoring their social media activity, TechCrunch reported.
Christian Hetrick is dot.LA's Entertainment Tech Reporter. He was formerly a business reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer and reported on New Jersey politics for the Observer and the Press of Atlantic City.