Five people with knowledge of the process say that TikTok has begun a global restructuring of its business.
The short-form video app, owned by Chinese parent company ByteDance, has grown rapidly in recent years. TikTok has thousands of employees worldwide despite tensions with the Trump administration over fears that it could be a tool of the Chinese government. Its rapid growth and success with younger users led to the creation of competing short-form video products.
According to sources at the company, some employees based in Europe were told on Monday that their jobs were at risk and that they would be invited to meet with human resources in the coming weeks. Some UK employees were warned that they would lose their jobs. Some US employees were told their roles were being eliminated when they started work.
One staff member said that the restructure affects TikTok businesses in the US, EU, and UK. Expansion plans have been put on hold.
One of TikTok's earliest executive hires is leaving the company because his role is being eliminated as part of a larger re-organization effort.
A senior staff member with knowledge of the changes said that a restructuring with job losses was happening. A TikTok spokesman did not dispute that layoffs are happening, but did not give a record comment by the time of publication.
As fears of an economic downturn have taken hold, major tech companies and startups have stopped hiring or making layoffs. The company decided not to expand its live shopping platform in the United States and Europe. The former TikTok employee thinks the restructuring was related to the economy. The former employee thinks that what is happening with TikTok's layoffs is not different to what is happening in big tech.
The number of layoffs would be less than 100 according to another TikTok staffer. TikTok has at least 10,000 employees in the US and Europe, according to previous statements.
Musical.ly was acquired by Byte Dance. The company's rapid growth has seen it reach milestone such as reaching 1 billion active users, drawing political scrutiny, and playing a central role in a war more quickly than older social networks such as Facebook. Brendan Gahan, partner and chief social officer at Mekanism, says that they have never seen anything like it before. He thinks that the restructuring won't hurt TikTok. I don't think a few layoffs is a sign of broader troubles.
The executive who announced his departure on Linkedin refused to speak with WIRED. He gestured at TikTok's short but interesting trajectory. It has been a lot of fun working at TikTok.
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