TikTok CEO Plans More Streamlining as Talks With Trump Team Continue
The Takeaway
• TikTok needs to remove layers and overlapping roles, CEO says
• TikTok is working with a ‘key person’ in Trump administration on U.S. ban issue
• ByteDance CFO says company expenses grew faster than revenue last year
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew said in a staff meeting Wednesday evening that he is working closely with the Trump administration to determine the best course of action for the app’s future in the U.S. At the meeting, Chew also discussed another priority: To continue shedding layers and overlapping roles within TikTok.
“We have to review our teams. We have to remove unnecessary layers,” Chew said during the all-hands meeting of TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, according to employees who attended. Chew said such efforts were “tough things we have to do,” but will ultimately result in better job security for TikTok employees, because everyone’s work will have “real value,” according to the employees.
Chew made those comments about TikTok after senior ByteDance executives discussed the company’s efforts to reduce organizational bureaucracy and increase efficiency. Meanwhile, TikTok’s major U.S. competitor, Meta Platforms, earlier this week started implementing its latest round of job cuts that amount to 5% of its workforce.
Chew’s comments come at a time when TikTok employees in the U.S. have already been coping with intense uncertainty. A federal law passed last year requires a sale or ban of TikTok, although President Donald Trump last month issued an executive order to temporarily halt the enforcement of the law and vowed to come up with a deal that would enable TikTok to stay in operation in the U.S. But any deal is likely to face hurdles as China’s government has a say in what ByteDance can do.
TikTok did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Regarding the current situation in the U.S., Chew said during the meeting that TikTok is working closely with a “key person” from the Trump administration who is in charge of the issue. And from the company’s side, there’s a group of people including Chew who are working on this issue every day, he said. Chew also said it is important for all the other TikTok employees to keep focusing on their work and the app’s users without getting distracted.
Over the past two years, TikTok has already implemented major reorganizations that involved departures of some executives, which also triggered changes at lower levels of management. In May last year, The Information reported on the app’s layoffs in its operations and marketing teams. After then-President Joe Biden signed the TikTok sale-or-ban law in April, some U.S.-based employees also started making contingency plans for themselves by exploring other job options.
ByteDance overall currently has more than 150,000 employees, including TikTok, and TikTok has around 7,000 staffers in the U.S. alone.
For ByteDance, the future of TikTok’s U.S. business is just one of many issues. The Chinese tech giant is grappling with other challenges, such as slowing growth of its China business, DeepSeek’s rapid rise in the AI industry and a sharp increase in spending on data centers.
During the all-hands meeting, ByteDance CFO Julie Gao said the company’s costs and expenses last year increased at a faster pace than revenue and profit, according to the employees. Gao attributed this to an increase in overall headcount and data center costs, as well as a decline in the growth rate of the company’s China business compared to previous years.
Last year, ByteDance stepped up its effort to develop AI models and applications, and the company’s Doubao chatbot became China’s most popular conversational AI product. But in recent weeks, DeepSeek, a Chinese AI company owned by a quantitative hedge fund, became a global sensation by launching a new AI model that rivals top-tier U.S. models even though it was built at a much lower cost. DeepSeek’s success is causing Chinese tech giants to reflect on why their own AI development teams didn’t deliver the same kind of success and impact earlier.
“Maybe our goal setting wasn’t very good. Maybe our goals were not very ambitious or focused,” ByteDance CEO Liang Rubo said through a translator during the meeting. Liang also said that having a strong competitor like DeepSeek is good because it keeps ByteDance motivated and sharp.