Exclusive | ByteDance to slash 1,000 jobs at office tool unit Feishu to ‘streamline’ operations: source
- ByteDance will cut up to 20 per cent of Feishu’s total workforce of more than 5,000, with most of the lay-offs in mainland China, according to a source
- The lay-offs at a key business unit of China’s most valuable unicorn have deepened fears of job security in the country’s tech sector
ByteDance, owner of hit short video app TikTok, has started cutting jobs at its enterprise collaboration unit Feishu, affecting about 1,000 employees, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The Feishu unit, which operates the Feishu office tool and its overseas version Lark, decided to “streamline [its] team” by eliminating jobs, according to a letter sent by unit head Xie Xin to employees on Tuesday. The letter did not elaborate how many jobs would be cut.
A source briefed on the matter, who declined to be named, told the Post that ByteDance will cut up to 20 per cent of Feishu’s total workforce of more than 5,000, with most of the lay-offs in mainland China. Those affected will receive compensation or be offered the opportunity to apply for other internal positions.
ByteDance did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.
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China’s social media and video gaming giant Tencent Holdings, for instance, reported a total payroll of 105,417 as the end of 2023, a drop of more than 3,000 from a year before.
Feishu was once regarded as a key business unit of ByteDance, along with Douyin, TikTok and cloud platform Volcano Engine. This is not the first time ByteDance has slashed jobs in noncore operations. The company had earlier cut jobs in its education services unit after Beijing tightened control over private tutoring.
Feishu would take a “more focused direction”, according to Xie’s letter, which added that the unit would “continue to improve the competitiveness of [its] products, especially in terms of [its] AI capabilities”.
Late last year, the Feishu app was updated with an embedded “intelligent buddy” powered by artificial intelligence (AI). The virtual assistant can summarise meetings and unread messages, as well as analyse content from PDF documents, videos and audio files, the company said.
ByteDance has made AI a priority, while sidelining other noncore businesses. In recent months, it laid off staff in its gaming unit and virtual reality team Pico.
