ByteDance said to launch new wave of education job cuts, as employment prospects dim in China’s tech sector

Beijing-based ByteDance, which operates TikTok and its Chinese version Douyin, is expected to cut at least 1,000 jobs at its education unit, marking a sharp contrast to this time a year ago when the tech giant’s thirst for fresh talent seemed insatiable.

The move by China’s most-valued unicorn is a sign of dimming job prospects within the country’s technology sector after a sweeping regulatory crackdown by Beijing in the past year. Although Big Tech companies have a reputation for long hours and a strong bias towards the country’s ambitious youth – the sector is also known for frequently offering salaries several times the national average.

The latest wave of lay-offs mainly affects ByteDance’s K-9 education businesses, including Guagualong, a flagship AI-tutoring brand targeting 2 to 12-year-olds set up last year, according to two people familiar with the matter who requested anonymity as the information is not public.

All employees sacked will be compensated based on the number of years they have served, plus another two months of salary, going beyond what the country’s labour law mandates. Some of them may have the chance to join other teams within ByteDance, one of the people said.

The job cuts could affect more than 1,000 people, and impact some other teams that have not been subject to Beijing’s ban on off-campus tutoring services, including OpenLanguage, an English learning product for adults and Xuelang, a knowledge-sharing platform, according to Chinese media outlet LatePost.

ByteDance did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Last year founder Zhang Yiming named education as ByteDance’s “new strategic direction”, as the company celebrated its eighth anniversary.