Report: TikTok Laying off Staff Globally as it Restructures Business
Samson Amore is a reporter for dot.LA. He holds a degree in journalism from Emerson College. Send tips or pitches to samsonamore@dot.la and find him on Twitter @Samsonamore.
Today TikTok began the process of laying off staff across the company in the U.S. and Europe as part of a move to reorganize its business.
Wired first reported the layoffs and cited former TikTok product and engineering executive David Ortiz’s LinkedIn post Monday, which explained his job was “being eliminated in a much larger reorganization effort.”
Ortiz didn’t elaborate what that reorganization effort exactly entails. It’s not clear yet how many workers were cut from the social media company’s U.S.-based teams or which roles are being eliminated, and TikTok didn’t immediately return dot.LA’s request for comment.
Wired’s report did note that TikTok was closing some open job postings as well as cutting current staff.
An anonymous former TikTok employee who was laid off from the company earlier this year told Wired that the restructuring was because of the general economic downturn hitting tech and social media companies. Wired said the restructuring was discussed internally July 18 and that it affects TikTok’s operations in the U.S. (including its Culver City outpost), U.K. and Europe.
TikTok’s Chinese parent company ByteDance also laid off up to 150 people June 18 and shuttered its Shanghai-based game development outfit 101 Studio, which it bought three years ago and had about 300 employees. ByteDance also shut down its strategic investment division and reassigned about 100 Chinese workers, the South China Morning Post reported today.
This is a developing story. Have a tip? Contact Samson Amore at samsonamore@dot.LA or on Signal at (401).287.5543.- TikTok Parent ByteDance Eclipses $1B in Mobile Games Sales ›
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Samson Amore is a reporter for dot.LA. He holds a degree in journalism from Emerson College. Send tips or pitches to samsonamore@dot.la and find him on Twitter @Samsonamore.
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