TikTok’s CMO leaves amid management shakeup: leaked memo

Mucha previously served as chief communications officer at Disney for 19 years. Jhaveri previously served as chief marketing officer at the NBA and video streaming platform Twitch. Jhaveri did not respond to Business Insider’s request for comment.

Zuber Mohammed, reporting directly to Mucha, will now oversee consumer marketing, as well as product marketing and user communications.

Information Portal was the first to report on some of the changes that are set to come into effect on September 23.

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TikTok has undergone some major organizational changes in recent months, with a round of layoffs in May as it retooled its operations and marketing teams. Its former vice president of global communications, Hilary McQuaide, left the company that same month, the executive posted on LinkedIn.

TikTok’s brand and communications team has been grappling with a difficult situation in recent weeks, trying to keep the company’s business goals at the forefront while also challenging the U.S. government over the “divest or prohibit” bill signed into law in April.

The company says the bill would violate the First Amendment rights of 170 million Americans by depriving them of free speech on its platforms. The government says TikTok poses a national security risk because of its Beijing-based owner, ByteDance.

Read the full text of the memo sent to employees below:

Brand and Communication Organizational Update

Hey everyone. I wanted to update you on some recent changes to the Global Brand & Comms team as we continue to evolve to deliver maximum value to our partners across the business and brand. As you know, last May we made some significant structural changes to the organization to create what we believe is a much stronger, more strategic, and collaborative approach. We are continually evaluating and adapting our structure to ensure we can nimbly address the challenges of a changing landscape while supporting the needs of the business.

Fortunately, we have a wealth of talent in our team – our challenge is to position and empower them correctly to fully leverage their skills and maximize their collective impact. To do this, we have looked at further integrating and refining our marketing, communications and CSR efforts so that we truly speak with one voice and create opportunities to connect and communicate with all the stakeholders who are critical to our success.

Kate Jhaveri and I have had ongoing discussions about our marketing strategy and how best to structure the marketing function to create a more cohesive organization that better meets the needs of the business and our cross-functional partners.

Together, we decided that the best way to achieve this vision was to eliminate the Global Marketing Lead position and bring everyone in Global Brand & Comms under one leader, aligning our work and goals around one overarching vision. As such, Kate will be leaving the company at the end of September.

On behalf of the TikTok leadership team, we’d like to thank Kate for her contributions to the position, particularly her data-driven marketing, creative, and leadership during our recent restructuring.

As of Monday, September 23, we are making some changes to our marketing leadership team. We appreciate this team and their ability to lead our marketing efforts while supporting the company’s current needs and long-term goals.

With Kate gone, some of our current marketing leaders will now report directly to me and continue to work in their current roles. Their teams will remain unchanged.

• Dexter Fedor remains the brand leader and creative
• Manish Gupta remains the leader in marketing strategy, analytics and insights
• Alistair Lennie to become director of strategic media planning to better reflect his role

I have asked Zuber to handle both global product marketing and consumer marketing, which includes newly created marketing regions (AMS, EMEA and APAC). Product marketing and consumer communications will continue to report to Zuber. Alastair Boyle, Jordan Guo and Carol Baracat will now report to Zuber, who will report to me.

Finally, we are also making changes to our social media team to enable a more scalable model for Global Brand & Comms. As a result, Helen Lawrence and her team will be reporting to Erin Fors.

While change is often challenging, I sincerely appreciate your support – along with your patience – as we continue to build a stronger organization. I look forward to working closely with all of you.