Ex-Disney & TikTok chief Kevin Mayer emerges at Len Blavatnik’s Access Industries

Kevin Mayer

Former Disney and TikTok chief Kevin Mayer has joined Access Industries, the entertainment investment firm founded by Len Blavatnik.

Mayer rose through the ranks at Disney over a 15 year period to emerge as its DTC chairman and oversaw the launch of Disney+ in November 2019. He left shortly after in May of this year after he was overlooked for the CEO position, taking up the mantle of CEO at short-form video app TikTok.

That tenure however was short-lived, and Mayer handed in his notice after three months, amid threats to the ByteDance-owned company by incumbent US president Donald Trump.

Mayer is now back in the industry after a little more than two months, joining Access Industries as a senior media adviser. Access was founded in 1986 by American-British billionaire Len Blavatnik, and has significant investments in WarnerMedia, DAZN (which Blavatnik also owns) and audio streaming service Deezer.

Former BBC director of TV Danny Cohen also works under the Access Industries umbrella as president of Access Entertainment, the global TV and film fund that has taken stakes in production companies including Jane Tranter’s Bad Wolf.

Blavatnik said: “Kevin has an unrivalled depth of experience building successful global media and entertainment enterprises. He will bring invaluable knowledge and insight across a range of Access’s investment areas.”

Mayer added: “I look forward to helping Access build on the success of its leading media and entertainment businesses as a key component of my future endeavors. Len has created a company with a variety of impressive assets well positioned to move forward strongly in the years ahead.”