TikTok's New CEO is Ex-Chief of Disney's Streaming Services

Kevin Mayer, who was the top executive at The Walt Disney Co.'s streaming services, will leave the entertainment and theme parks giant to become the CEO of TikTok, the popular video app owned by China’s ByteDance Technology Co.

In March this year, ByteDance has already launched a new music streaming service 'Resso' in India to take on local competitors like Gaana, JioSaavn and Spotify. Resso, which calls itself the world's first social music streaming app, is also looking at expanding its service to Indonesia in the the next few months.

Mayer led Disney’s Direct-to-Consumer and International segment since its founding in 2018 and oversaw the successful launches of ESPN+ and Disney+ and the integration of Hulu.

Mayer’s appointment will be effective June 1, when he will also become chief operating officer (COO) of ByteDance, the parent firm of TikTok.

Meanwhile, The Walt Disney Company had also announced that Josh D’Amaro has been named Chairman, Disney Parks, Experiences and Products, and Rebecca Campbell has been named Chairman, Direct-to-Consumer and International. Mr. D’Amaro and Ms. Campbell will report to Mr. Chapek.

According to ByteDance’s press release, Mayer will be responsible for “driving the global development of ByteDance, as well as overseeing corporate functions including corporate development, sales, marketing, public affairs, security, moderation, and legal."

Prior to his stint at the Disney, Mayer was 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 had also spent time at Miramax and ABC Radio.

Mary Poppins is one of Walt Disney’s greatest Achievements

Walt Disney is one of the most influential film producers of all time. With characters like Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Pluto, Minnie Mouse and many more being his creative achievements, Walt Disney’s legacy remains unsurpassed even today. Apart from these classic characters, Disney is also credited for producing a lot of iconic live-action films and characters, of which, one of the biggest of his career was none other than the prim and proper, umbrella-wielding British nanny Mary Poppins. 



In 1964, a live adaptation of Mary Poppins, from the popular book series was released as a fantasy musical comedy, starring acclaimed actress Julie Andrews donning the ‘practically perfect’ outfit of Mary Poppins. The film was critically acclaimed and was considered as Walt Disney's crowning live-action achievement, garnering the only Best Picture nomination, Disney witnessed during his lifetime. The film went on to win 5 Academy awards and was even selected by the United States National Film Registry to be “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". Besides, simply producing the film, however, Disney was involved, personally and creatively, in the development of the character, costumes, music and animation of the film- his interactions with the Mary Poppins series writer Pamela Travers is documented in the film ‘Saving Mr. Banks’. The movie has a number of memorable songs like Chim chimmeny, which won an Academy Award for Best Song, and Feed the Birds, which was so close to Disney, it was played at his funeral. All of the above achievements has led Mary Poppins inducted into the ‘list of iconic characters’.

After a long gap, the sequel Mary Poppins Returns was finally released. Beloved actress Emily Blunt picked up the umbrella of the titular character for the sequel. 

When asked about what she loved about the character, Emily stated -

 “I do quite like the vanity. I mean the really self-indulgent vanity it just makes me laugh so much and I think she is terribly rude. I like that too, she just doesn’t care. My sister was saying to me last night at the premier she likes it when I am waiting at the bank and I want to see Michael Banks and this package guy rudely interrupts me. She said your face is like so funny. It’s all this stuff that I think that British people find really funny.”

The record breaking 54-year-old gap between the Mary Poppins and Mary Poppins Returns is considered to be one of the longest gaps in cinema history. Upon release, the sequel was showered with praise and was dubbed as the reason to dismiss the belief that ‘sequels are never good as the original’.

Catch the flying nanny on Star Movies on April 26th 2020 at 1 pm