Tiktok parent ByteDance on a hiring spree as other unicorns lay off workforce due to coronavirus closures

Against a backdrop unprecedented layoffs in the corporate sector, Chinese internet giant and TikTok’s parent company ByteDance has ramped up its hiring. With intentions to roll out a total of 40,000 jobs, the company is seeking to reach an employee count of over 100,000 globally by the end of the year.

As per an internal memo from company CEO Zhang Yiming (via Bloomberg), the company seeks to recruit 10,000 positions across apps such as video sharing platform TikTok and news aggregator Toutiao. These apps collectively cater to a staggering 1.5 billion monthly active users, mostly from China and India. The numbers have seen a further rise due to the coronavirus lockdown in place across several countries globally.

The new hires will help ByteDance expand into gaming and e-commerce as well and consequently take on rivals such as Tencent and Alibaba which have monopoly over these respective sectors. The Chinese tech giant’s ambitions also include orchestrating forays into live steaming- commerce and enterprise software.

While recruitments in China will make up about 9900 of the new hires, 100 new staff will be hired from each location in markets outside including Singapore, Los Angeles, Mountain View and London. The count in China also includes about 1100 openings reserved for interns.

The new hires will include 3000 new positions each in coding, engineering and research jobs and about the same number in product operations. Once the headcount of employees rises to the number it’s aiming for, the company will boast of roughly the same employee count as that of Alibaba and parent company of South China Morning Post.

Currently valued at US $75 Billion, the Chinese tech giant’s move offers an insight into its investments for the future. For example, the company is seeking online tutors to keep up with the growth of the online education industry as a result of the pandemic. Subsequently, talent for music licencing is also being acquired from various locations worldwide.

The company’s hiring spree is in sharp contrast with the job cuts in unicorn start-ups such as Oyo, Zume Pizza and brandless, and the complete shut-down of many others. As per the Wall Street Journal, the pandemic has begun to paint the picture of a global economy almost certainly in recession.