- TikTok laid off around 60 employees, mostly in sales and advertising.
- This comes as TikTok restructures operations, potentially tied to its Shop e-commerce integration drawing user complaints.
- The cuts join other consumer tech giants trimming costs, marking growing pains even as TikTok still leads rivals.
Popular short-form video app TikTok has executed layoffs impacting around 60 employees, according to NPR. The job cuts targeted TikTok’s sales and advertising divisions as the company restructures some operations.
Active monthly users decelerated
TikTok, with headquarters in Los Angeles and Singapore, continues to top app store charts as the #1 entertainment app globally. However, SensorTower data shows its monthly active user growth decelerating from 12% in 2022 to just 3% in 2023 per quarter.
While TikTok ascribes the cuts to an internal reorganization, they come amidst its integration of TikTok Shop e-commerce features, which launched in September 2022.
Users have complained about excessive shopping content since.
Impacts?
The layoffs mark TikTok as the latest consumer tech leader to trim headcount, including significant cuts by Amazon, Google, YouTube, Duolingo, and Discord. For many tech firms, Q1 appears to be the designated period for cost-cutting after a challenging 2022 environment.
The job cuts signal potential growing pains at TikTok even as it still outpaces social rivals like Instagram and Snapchat.
It remains to be seen how the restructuring impacts TikTok’s product roadmap and user growth going forward.
