ByteDance, the Beijing-based parent company of TikTok, is laying off 65 workers based in Bellevue, Wash., according to a new filing with the Washington state Employment Security Department.
ByteDance, Inc., is laying off 27 workers, while TikTok, Inc., is laying off 38 employees, according to the filing.
The Chinese tech giant landed in the Seattle region in 2021 and has been growing its footprint in Amazon’s backyard as it bolstered its TikTok Shop online shopping business. TikTok has around 1,000 employees in Bellevue — including former Amazon workers — according to a Bloomberg report last month.
But TikTok has recently cut workers from its U.S. e-commerce unit across three rounds of layoffs since April, Bloomberg reported last week, noting that TikTok has replaced some staff near Seattle with managers connected to China.
“As the TikTok Shop business evolves, we regularly review our operations to ensure long-term success,” a spokesperson with TikTok said in a statement to GeekWire. “Following careful consideration, we’ve made the difficult decision to adjust parts of our team to better align with strategic priorities.”
TikTok Shop is TikTok’s fastest-growing business, according to Bloomberg, though it has fallen short of recent internal sales targets.
TikTok is planning to roll out a new version of its app for users in the U.S. ahead of a planned sale of TikTok’s U.S. operations, The Information reported on Sunday.
ByteDance is one of more than 100 out-of-town tech companies that have engineering centers in the Seattle region, as tracked by GeekWire. ByteDance has more than 440,000 square feet of space in Bellevue and just opened a new office, DJC reported last month.
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