Over 50 Employees Sacked By TikTok Management

TikTok reportedly lays off 60 employees to reduce costs and reorganise workforce.

TikTok has joined the growing list of tech companies implementing layoffs, with around 60 employees let go in a bid to lower costs.

The move comes amid a broader economic slowdown in the tech industry, with giants such as Google, Amazon, and Meta also cutting jobs.

The layoffs come amid an economic slowdown in the tech industry.

Despite the layoffs, TikTok remains one of the top apps in the U.S.

TikTok has also joined the list of tech companies that have slashed jobs this year, including Google, Amazon, Unity, and Discord. NPR reports that the short-form video hosting platform let go of at least 100 employees in various locations, including Los Angeles, New York, Austin, and abroad. The exact impact of the layoffs on different departments is still unknown.

Employees at the video-sharing platform said that TikTok is cutting jobs to lower its expenses, reveals the report. The company spokesperson further confirmed that around 60 workers, mainly from the sales and advertising department, were dismissed due to a regular restructuring plan. Following the layoffs, the TikTok has also planned a town hall session for Tuesday.

With about 7,000 workers in the U.S., TikTok is amongst the top apps in the country. Its parent company, the Chinese tech giant ByteDance, employs over 150,000 people worldwide. However, amid the economic slowdown and turmoil in the tech industry, TikTok is also facing difficulties and hence moving towards cutting down its workforce and restructuring its operations to reduce costs.

Notably, the tech industry is sailing through an economic slowdown along with a major transformation as it invests heavily in new generative AI tools, seen as the next big thing in tech. This has led to companies taking restructuring measures and reducing costs to work more efficiently.

The sector has already suffered a huge blow in 2023 when it lost about 260,000 jobs due to the pandemic, marking the worst year for tech employment ever.

However, the year 2024 is not far from the aftermath, and the industry is still shaking with job cuts and thousands of job losses in major tech companies like Google and Amazon this year, according to layoffs.

This year, Google started 2024 by laying off more than 1,000 workers from various departments, such as hardware and engineering, citing a need to reorganise and focus on key projects. Its CEO, Sundar Pichai, also hinted at more layoffs in the future, as the company faces increasing competition and regulatory hurdles.

YouTube, a subsidiary of Google, also cut around 100 jobs, mainly in the areas of music, sports, media, film, and TV, to cope with the slowdown in ad revenue and the rise of rivals like TikTok. Amazon followed suit by announcing job cuts in its Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios divisions as part of its operational efficiency plan.

Meta, the company behind Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, also reduced its headcount by 60, mostly in technical program management, as it aims to simplify its structure and pursue its metaverse vision.

The latest tech company to join the layoff spree is Riot Games, the maker of the popular video game League of Legends, which said it would slash 11 per cent of its staff, or about 530 employees, as a result of cost-cutting and restructuring efforts.