TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer has walked from his position just three months after taking on the job.
As reported by Reuters, the Chinese company will now be headed by Vanessa Pappas on an interim basis - she is the current US general manager. Mayer's resignation comes during a tricky period for the short-clip app as it prepares to do battle with US president Donald Trump, following his executive order to ban TikTok.
"In recent weeks, as the political environment has sharply changed, I have done significant reflection on what the corporate structural changes will require, and what it means for the global role I signed up for," said Mayer.
"Against this backdrop, and as we expect to reach a resolution very soon, it is with a heavy heart that I wanted to let you all know that I have decided to leave the company."
ByteDance founder and CEO Zhang Yiming claimed that the firm is "moving quickly to find resolutions to the issues that we face globally, particularly in the US and India. It is never easy to come into a leadership position in a company moving as quickly as we are, and the circumstances following his arrival made it all the more complex."
Facing the US
To say that TikTok has been facing troubles in the US would be an understatement. The Chinese short-form video app has been embroiled in a feud with president Trump for months, no doubt due to the bad relations between the US and China, as the president has claimed that TikTok is gathering personal data and transmitting it to the Chinese government.
However, despite his executive order, and demand that TikTok sell its US operations within 90 days, there are other options for the company. One such avenue is selling its assets to Microsoft, which has received Trump's blessing to pursue a deal, so long as it is secured within 45 days, and as long as Trump and the US treasury see some of the profits.
Moreover, software giant Oracle is also rumoured to have an interest in the Chinese app. However, given TikTok's intention to face the US president in court, a deal seems unlikely.
