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ByteDance, the Chinese technology giant that owns TikTok, is laying off hundreds of employees from several departments towards the end of 2022. This step was taken to streamline the company's operations.
Employees of Douyin, China's version of the TikTok app, are among the groups affected by the layoffs. Likewise employees from the gaming and real estate divisions, according to information from a source who did not wish to be named.
The layoffs also occurred at Feishu, ByteDance's enterprise collaboration service also known as Lark. According to a report by Chinese media Jiemian, Lark was the hardest hit department, with about 10% of employees being laid off.
Employees affected by the layoffs will receive compensation based on the number of years they have worked at ByteDance plus one month's salary, as quoted by the South China Morning Post, Wednesday (4/1/2023).
The layoffs affect a small percentage of ByteDance employees, which is one of the largest job providers in China's technology sector. ByteDance alone has more than 100,000 employees worldwide.
The layoffs at ByteDance came after CEO Liang Rubo told employees in late December that the company needed to "get fit and strengthen muscles."
Despite the layoffs, ByteDance is still actively recruiting new employees. Their official website features more than 10,000 vacancies for a variety of positions, including engineering and marketing, in cities around the world including Beijing, London and California.
ByteDance itself had a pretty difficult year in 2022 after TikTok returned to the spotlight of the United States government. TikTok is already blocked on all US federal government devices, while 19 states block TikTok on state-administered devices.
This isn't the first time ByteDance has made layoffs either. In 2021, ByteDance laid off thousands of employees following a ban on private tutors in China, and in 2022 they laid off hundreds of employees from its video game division.