TikTok owner ByteDance cuts hundreds of jobs at multiple departments in China, sources say
- The job cuts were implemented at Douyin as well as its gaming and real estate operations, two sources said
- The lay-offs came after CEO Liang Rubo told employees in December that the company needs to ‘get fit and beef up the muscle’ to streamline operations
ByteDance, owner of TikTok, laid off hundreds of employees across multiple departments at the end of 2022 as part of the company’s efforts to streamline operations, according to two people familiar with the matter.
The move has affected employees at Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok with 600 million daily active users, as well as its gaming and real estate operations, said the sources, who declined to be named as they are not authorised to speak to the media.
The job cuts represent a small percentage of ByteDance’s workforce, one of the largest employers in China’s tech sector and with over 100,000 employees worldwide. As ByteDance is privately owned, it is not obliged to publicly disclose information related to its business.
Job cuts are usually conducted in name of business optimisation in China’s tech sector and it is also a common practice for employers to sack underperformers. Other Chinese internet giants, including Alibaba Group Holding and Tencent Holdings, cut thousands of jobs in 2022.
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The lay-offs at ByteDance were first reported by Chinese media outlet Jiemian. ByteDance’s enterprise collaboration tool Feishu, also known as Lark, was among the hardest hit departments, affecting about 10 per cent of the employees, according to the report.
ByteDance declined to comment.
