TikTok COO V. Pappas Steps Down – Billboard

TikTok COO V. Pappas is stepping down to “move on and refocus on my entrepreneurial passions,” they announced on Thursday (June 22nd) in an email to the company they subsequently shared on Twitter.

“To our amazing community of creators, employees, and people who have made TikTok ‘the last sunny spot on the internet,’ it has been an absolute privilege to serve you all and to be a part of this once in a lifetime journey,” they tweeted.

TikTok’s chief of staff, Adam Presser, will take over operations, according to The Hollywood Reporter, and Zenia Mucha will join the company as chief brand and communications officer. Mucha previously served for two decades at Disney before departing the company in 2021.

Pappas, a former YouTube executive — the company’s first audience development lead, the author of The YouTube Creator Playbook, and the developer of YouTube’s Creator Academy and channel certification program — initially joined TikTok in 2018. 

“Five years ago when I was first approached by TikTok, I was incredibly inspired by the product vision to be a new mobile-first video experience that serves as a canvas, bridge and window for everyone,” they wrote in their goodbye letter. “The pitch was to take on a role to transform and grow the product and broaden its appeal through developing diverse communities and content… I took a gamble on what was then a completely unknown company and product.”

Pappas then stepped into the interim global CEO role after Kevin Mayer departed suddenly in 2020. 

The days of TikTok being “unknown” are of course long gone; much of the music industry now focuses on the platform to market artists and find new ones to sign.

“Five years later, we have grown to a global team of thousands of people and I believe we have achieved our goal to innovate and define an entirely new experience for people to share, create, and be entertained,” Pappas noted. “Today I stand proud that we deliver a product that resonates with over 1 billion people around the world. TikTok is now a household name.”

According to Pappas’ letter, they will be “taking on an advisory role” during the transition period.