ByteDance-owned TikTok said to lay off hundreds of employees globally as a potential US ban looms

TikTok is cutting hundreds of jobs at its operations and marketing departments, according to two people familiar with the matter, in line with efforts by parent company ByteDance since late 2022 to restructure its businesses.

The lay-offs, which were announced internally earlier this week, are expected to affect an undisclosed portion of the roughly 1,000 jobs globally at those two departments. The number of job cuts would be in the hundreds, with the global user operations team to be disbanded, the people with knowledge of the matter said.

US online tech publication The Information, which first reported the lay-offs on Tuesday, said the job cuts would impact "a large percentage" of TikTok employees. But one of the people said some of the affected employees were given the option to transfer to other teams.

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The other person briefed on the matter indicated that job cuts are part of TikTok's ongoing strategy to streamline its business. Such initiatives are in line with parent ByteDance's campaign to "cut the fat and get fit", said chief executive Liang Rubo at a staff meeting in December 2022.

TikTok, which has dual headquarters in Singapore and Los Angeles, did not immediately respond to an inquiry on Wednesday.

The reception counter at TikTok's offices in Singapore on August 29, 2023. Photo: EPA-EFE alt=The reception counter at TikTok's offices in Singapore on August 29, 2023. Photo: EPA-EFE>

The lay-offs at TikTok show the lengths being taken by parent ByteDance to restructure its social media operations, even as the Beijing-based tech unicorn continues to attract and retain talent.

While ByteDance's entertainment empire has expanded from news app Jinri Toutiao and short video platforms TikTok and Chinese sibling Douyin to virtual reality unit Pico, video gaming and online education, the company has conducted multiple rounds of lay-offs over the years amid regulatory and business uncertainties.

In March, ByteDance pledged to raise annual bonuses for high-performing employees amid the latest crisis facing its flagship app TikTok's operations in the United States.

US President Joe Biden last month signed into law a legislative measure that would ban TikTok from app stores in America unless owner ByteDance divests the short video platform's US business. Biden has set a January 19 deadline - one day before his term is to expire - but he could grant a three-month extension if he determines ByteDance is making progress.

Earlier this month, the US Justice Department and TikTok asked the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to set a fast-track schedule to consider the legal challenges in that divest-or-ban law. China's Ministry of Commerce has repeatedly said that it would oppose a forced sale of TikTok.

People walk past a giant advertisement for ByteDance-owned Pico's virtual reality headset at a subway station in Beijing. Pico has conducted at least two rounds of lay-offs last year. Photo: Shutterstock alt=People walk past a giant advertisement for ByteDance-owned Pico's virtual reality headset at a subway station in Beijing. Pico has conducted at least two rounds of lay-offs last year. Photo: Shutterstock>

ByteDance last year retreated from video gaming by laying off hundreds of employees at its main gaming unit Nuverse, as it shut down most projects not yet online, the South China Morning Post reported in late November.

Tencent Holdings, which runs the world's biggest video-gaming business by revenue, has taken over some of those ditched projects.

Restructuring at Pico resulted in a new round of job cuts last November, which affected hundreds of employees, the Post reported at the time. Hundreds of Pico employees were also affected by an earlier round of lay-offs in February last year.

In 2021, ByteDance slashed thousands of jobs at its online education business after new policy banned the pursuit of profit from off-campus tutoring.

This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP's Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright © 2024 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.

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