Kevin Mayer, Fmr. TikTok CEO & Disney Executive 9/23/25

Squawk Pod

CNBC

Business News, News, Investing, Business

4.2 • 543 Ratings

🗓️ 23 September 2025

⏱️ 41 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Nvidia will invest $100B in OpenAI, a deal announcement that boosted chip stocks abroad. After nearly two decades at Disney, Kevin Mayer left to lead TikTok U.S. and serve as COO at its parent Bytedance in 2020. Three months later, amid concerns about Chinese influence and the CCP’s access to the platform’s data, Mayer left his role. Today, he discusses TikTok’s path forward in the U.S., as well as Disney’s decision to suspend and reinstate Jimmy Kimmel’s show on ABC. General Catalyst CEO Hemant Taneja believes it’s time for Silicon Valley to move away from its long-held “move fast and break things” attitude. The investor in Stripe, Snap, Anduril, and Airbnb is betting on intentional building in the fast-paced world of AI innovation. Plus, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon is speaking out on the Trump administration’s proposed H-1B visa policy. Kevin Mayer - 21:32 Hemant Taneja - 33:28 In this episode: Hemant Taneja, @htaneja Joe Kernen, @JoeSquawk Becky Quick, @BeckyQuick Andrew Ross Sorkin, @andrewrsorkin Katie Kramer, @Kramer_Katie

Transcript

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0:00.0	Bring in show music, please.
0:04.3	Hi, I'm CNBC producer Katie Kramer.
0:06.9	Today on Squawk Pot.
0:09.5	Jimmy Kimmel returns.
0:11.1	There's no way Disney was going to have the spine to stand up to the woke mob.
0:15.4	CEO Bob Iger's decision to suspend and then reinstate the late-night host
0:19.5	and manage political and public pressure
0:22.0	once an insider at the company former TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer weighs in.
0:26.2	Half is going to be angry no matter what you do.
0:28.5	So I think Bob just has to do what he thinks is right for the company.
0:32.1	And the future of Silicon Valley with one of the investors who helped build it.
0:36.4	Hamantinasia is CEO of General Catalyst.
0:38.3	He's backed the likes of Airbnb, Stripe, Snap, Mistral AI,
0:42.3	and he says it's time for change.
0:44.3	You can't rush and focus on the traditional Silicon Valley mantra of,
0:48.3	hey, let's just grow these businesses fast and deal with the consequences later.
0:52.3	It really has to be a lot more intentional.
0:55.0	Plus, CEOs respond to new rules for visas for international workers, and
1:00.0	NVIDIA giving 100 billion to open AI for data centers and to supply chips.
1:06.0	When you get into the vendor financing of your own industry, it sort of becomes this cyclical thing, which could be virtuous or, you know, vicious.
1:15.2	It's Tuesday, September 23rd, SquawkPod begins right now.
1:20.0	Stand Becky by in three, two, one.
	...

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