Blake Chandlee, a top advertising executive at TikTok, is stepping down from his leadership role at the company next month, according to a memo sent to staffers on Monday.
Chandlee’s departure is part of an internal reorganization that will merge TikTok’s ads and marketing organization, called the global business solutions team, with its global monetization product technology team.
Will Liu, who currently oversees that monetization product team, will lead the combined group. Chandlee will remain affiliated with the company in an advisory role, he wrote in the memo.
Chandlee did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Khartoon Weiss, meanwhile, will oversee the global business solutions team in North America, in addition to leading its global agency and accounts team, a company spokesperson told Business Insider.
Chandlee’s departure comes at a tenuous moment for TikTok. The company is currently reckoning with a divest-or-ban law that requires its owner, ByteDance, to separate itself from its US app. The app is operating in the US based on an executive order that gave TikTok until April 5 to sort out a political resolution with the Trump administration.
The move follows other recent departures from executives, including Ole Obermann, the company’s global head of music business development.
Read Chandlee’s full memo below:
Hey all,
As Shou has just shared, as we strive towards 2025 goals and beyond, we have had many discussions about the future of the business and how to continue transforming our model. Notably, how we continue to move faster together in continued development of automated capabilities and deep integration into planning systems, TikTok Shop, and measurement & ecosystem partners.
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. 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. Leaders of both organizations will report directly to Will Liu, effective April 1. I want to take this opportunity to share my perspective with you on why I believe it is the right decision moving forward.
Reflecting on the last six years, we have built something that has never been built before. In 2019, I joined a start-up whose user base was growing fast based on a simple concept of short form video combined with music, creating a unique entertainment experience. A small group of us, split between shared working spaces in NY, London, and LA were tasked with figuring out how to engage with this audience and introducing ads into the mix to create the first ads business on TikTok. We didn’t have a name, but came up with Global Business Solutions as it sounded impressive, and thus formed GBS.
That humble beginning has turned into the fastest growing ads business in the world (outside of Douyin), achieving our current revenue levels two years ahead of Meta and four years ahead of Google. And we are not done yet, as we ambitiously target 50% growth again in 2025. To be clear, this has not been a linear process. We have encountered a ban in India, a global pandemic where we all worked from home for two years, geo-political headwinds, wars in Ukraine and Middle East, increased regulatory oversight, and more. All that said, the things we have always focused on are our clients and how we can best deliver business outcomes for them based on the tools and products we had at each point in the journey. Remember, as we were building GBS, the product and engineering teams were rapidly building capabilities for our clients to identify, reach, engage, and measure our global audiences. This focus on building relevant and impactful solutions for clients has fueled our teams around the world, large and small. Along with the trust each of YOU have built with your clients, agencies, and partners, this combo has been the foundation of this growth and will continue to be.
Will and I were spending a lot of time thinking how we can communicate better, deliver client feedback faster, launch products more smoothly, be more transparent and accountable, and ultimately learn and iterate to get to market faster. What became more obvious was that our structure was slowing us down. I have always encouraged our teams to think differently, be transformative, and not let the past limit the future. By aligning the GBS org directly with the product org, we can truly move as one team. Will is an exceptional product and eng leader who has built strong teams and products globally. He is respected by the sales leaders and has a true focus on delivering best in class solutions for our clients. This change is an example of Will and I eating our own dogfood. We are being disruptive to allow for the success of the business. To be clear, this is not a traditional way of thinking about an organization and may feel uncomfortable for some. It was not an easy decision for me especially, but it is the right one at the right time. If executed correctly, the business, and therefore clients, will benefit. For all of us, this will come down to trusting and believing in this decision, then committing to execution. It’s that simple.
As for me, I’ve always wanted to lead with honesty and openness and want you to know that I am very comfortable with this. I am proud of what we have built and grateful to have been a part of this amazing story that will continue through you! I have said this before, I love to build and for this last chapter, I have been able to build a part of history. I am so lucky for the opportunity given to me by Lidong almost six years ago to the day. He trusted me and I have learned a lot from him and Shou over the years on how to push myself out of my comfort zone and to continue to push my boundaries. I won’t be going anywhere soon, you will see me around and over time, that too shall fade but I will leave you with this.
You are building history. Books will be written about this company, stories of how clients are better for our efforts and creators and SMBs alike have had their lives changed. Remember, there is only one TikTok, enjoy the ride. Thank you for trusting me to lead this team, I am eternally grateful and humbled.
Blake
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