Photo Credit: Blake Chandlee (Global Business Solutions, TikTok)
What do these guys know that we don’t? Perhaps the question answers itself: now TikTok’s Global Business Solutions Head, Blake Chandlee, is leaving the company, according to an internal memo. The move comes just a month after Global Head of Music, Ole Obermann, departed the company for Apple Music.
Blake Chandlee, Global Business Solutions Head overseeing marketing and ad sales at TikTok, is departing the company. The news was revealed in an internal memo to staff this week. Chandlee’s departure is only the latest as TikTok fast approaches the end of a 75-day extension on a potential federal ban in the US.
“As our offerings become more technical and our client product solutions become more sophisticated to provide even more value, it is important that global business solutions (GBS) and global monetization product technology (GMPT) operate increasingly hand-in-hand,” wrote Chandlee. “To enable this, I have decided it’s best to streamline under one department lead and will be scaling back my day-to-day role to an advisory one.”
Chandlee has been with TikTok since 2019, serving as a major figure in defending the company against those who have called to ban it. He will officially leave TikTok on April 1, but will remain as an advisor to the company. Will Liu, who oversees the global monetization production team, will lead the combined group in Chandlee’s stead.
His departure is the latest in a series of executives who have left the company, including Global Head of Music, Ole Obermann; Head of Ad Sales, North America, Sameer Singh; and US General Manager of Agency Business, Jack Bamberger.
These changes come at a pivotal moment for TikTok, which is currently facing a divest-or-ban law that requires its owner, China-based company ByteDance, to relinquish US operations to a US-based company. Its continued operation in the US is based on an executive order that gave TikTok until April 5 to find a suitable buyer.
But despite a slew of interested parties, ByteDance and the broader Chinese government have been opposed to a sale. How things will shake out by April 5 remains to be seen — though the Trump administration remains adamant that a sale is in the works.
