The Chinese group ByteDance has just recruited a lot by hiring one of Disney's pundits, the American Kevin Mayer. Having entered the Enchanted Kingdom in 1993, the director of the group's streaming platforms (Disney +, Hulu, ESPN +) will be, from June 1, the world boss of the social video network TikTok, which is very popular among teenagers. Kevin Mayer also becomes director of operations for ByteDance. Its mission will be to extend the activities of the Chinese group internationally, particularly in the fields of music, with the Resso application, and video games for smartphones. ByteDance has indeed acquired several Chinese development studios.
This transfer of one of the Hollywood figures to a Chinese group has something to talk about, while trade relations between the two countries are tense. If Kevin Mayer explains to the American press that he could not refuse the opportunity to run one of the most popular social applications in the world, his decision to leave Disney was perhaps born of a professional disappointment.
Right arm of Bob Iger, the charismatic general manager of the entertainment giant, Kevin Mayer seemed perfectly suited to succeed him. After all, he had worked on the buyouts of Pixar, Marvel and Lucasfilm, three acquisitions that allowed Disney to establish its domination over the world box office. He was also behind the design of the Disney + streaming video service, and oversaw its record launch: in less than six months, the competing platform of Netflix has more than 55 million subscribers. However, the prestigious chair of the boss of the Walt Disney Company returned at the end of February to Bob Chapek, director of the theme parks of the group. As prestigious as it is, the profile of Kevin Mayer would have sinned by lack of experience in operational management.
Reassure the American authorities
This transfer window allows TikTok to respond to one of its most urgent challenges: to make people forget their Chinese origins. Never before has an application from the Middle Kingdom been so successful in the West, and even more so in the United States, where its growth among those under 25 is dazzling (+ 85% in one year). Enough to frown on Washington who, after Huawei, fears that a possible Beijing Trojan horse will land on its territory. Prohibitions on installing the application for reasons of national security are raining in the American administration: the Army, the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and of Transport have issued such rules to their employees. In early March, Congress passed a law extending this ban to all employees of US federal agencies. Similar legislation must be considered by the Senate.
In return, ByteDance claims that TikTok does not store data in China, where Internet users use a Siamese application, Douyin. Appointing an American CEO who will head TikTok from the United States helps establish these declarations of independence from Beijing.
Kevin Mayer will thus become the privileged interlocutor of the public authorities, anxious to know more about this application prized by their young fellow citizens. He will have a lot to do. At the end of November, the American authorities opened an investigation into the late 2017 acquisition by ByteDance of the American application Musical.ly, later renamed TikTok. The Committee for Foreign Investment in the United States has the power to undo such acquisitions. In 2018, he canceled the purchase of the Grindr homosexual dating application by the Chinese Kunlun Tech. A scenario that ByteDance does not want to be repeated.
