Kevin Mayer, former TikTok CEO and Disney veteran, joins HYBE board of administrators
Former TikTok chief and ex-Disney veteran Kevin Mayer has joined the Board of Administrators at South Korea-born leisure large HYBE.
Los Angeles-based Mayer was put in as a non-executive director of HYBE at a shareholders’ assembly on March 31, based on Korean information outlet, Cash At the moment Broadcasting (MTN).
He’s at present Co-CEO/Founding father of Blackstone-backed American “subsequent technology” media firm Candle Media, and Co-Founder and Managing Associate of VC agency Smash Capital.
In 2022, Candle Media acquired Spanish-language content material agency Exile Content material Studio, co-founded by present HYBE America Chairman/CEO, Isaac Lee. MTN studies that the acquisition “established a connection” between HYBE and Mayer.
Mayer, who was additionally the COO of dad or mum firm ByteDance, joined TikTok in Might 2020, turning into the platform’s first-ever US-based CEO. However he resigned lower than 4 months into the position amid turmoil attributable to the Donald Trump administration’s calls for that TikTok dump a bit of its US enterprise.
Entry Industries, the bulk proprietor of Warner Music Group, subsequently introduced in November 2020 that Mayer had joined its ranks as a “senior media adviser”, a task through which he served till 2023. He additionally had a two-year fastened time period as Chairman of the board at sports activities platform DAZN from 2021 to 2023.
Previous to TikTok, Mayer was Chairman of Direct-to-Shopper & Worldwide at Disney – a place through which he led the rollout of video streaming service Disney+, which surpassed 50m paying subscribers in April, 5 months after launch.
Moreover, he led Disney’s different direct-to-consumer companies, together with Hulu, ESPN+, and Hotstar, and oversaw Disney’s worldwide operations, international advert gross sales, and international content material gross sales.
Beforehand, as Disney’s Chief Technique Officer, Mayer helped orchestrate the corporate’s acquisitions of Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm, and most of twenty first Century Fox.
Mayer spent 22 years working at Disney in complete, throughout two stints (1993-2000, after which 2005-2020).
Within the interim, he served in roles together with the CEO of Playboy.com, and Chairman/CEO of Clear Channel Interactive.
He at present serves on the board of Harvard Enterprise College, in addition to on the boards of Tinuiti and The Forest Street Firm. He’s additionally an advisory board member at Salesforce and a member of the board of trustees at The Paley Heart for Media.
Mayer’s appointment comes amid a interval of great change at HYBE America, which not too long ago rebranded its Nashville division as Blue Freeway Information following the departure of Large Machine Label Group founder Scott Borchetta.
It additionally arrives at a pivotal second for HYBE’s dad or mum firm, which posted file annual revenues of $1.86 billion for 2025 and is gearing up for the BTS World Tour ARIRANG — an 82-show stadium tour throughout 23 international locations. BTS’s comeback album, additionally titled Arirang, broke Ok-Pop streaming data on Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music upon its launch on March 20.Music Enterprise Worldwide
