TikTok cuts more e-commerce workers as rolling layoffs continue. Here's what the company is saying to staffers.
HR will help affected workers through the next steps around the "difficult news," and there is "no need to come to the office" as they work through the transition, according to the email.
The cuts are hitting Shop staff across various parts of TikTok and ByteDance's global e-commerce division, including moderation workers, product team members, and staff who work with creators and sellers, the employees said. BI wasn't able to immediately learn how many roles were affected.
While some workers were told their jobs were cut, others were informed that they would still have roles after a restructuring.
"As the TikTok Shop business evolves, we regularly review our operations to ensure long-term success," a TikTok spokesperson told Business Insider in a statement. "Following careful consideration, we've made the difficult decision to adjust parts of our team to better align with strategic priorities."
In its internal messaging to staff, the company said it's spent the past month assessing how to "best support our evolving global e-commerce business in alignment with our mission and evolving goals," and that it's "repositioning resources and reducing complexity in pursuit of strengthened collaboration and increased efficiency."
These new changes are the latest in a series of layoff rounds affecting Shop workers this year.
In April, TikTok and ByteDance made cuts to multiple teams within its e-commerce governance and experience group, which oversees marketplace safety for sellers, creators, and users within Shop. In May, it conducted two rounds of layoffs within e-commerce, affecting US operations and global key accounts workers and staff in Indonesia, Bloomberg reported.
TikTok's US e-commerce business became an area of focus for cuts this year after division lead Bob Kang told staff in a February all-hands call that the group failed to meet some of its performance goals in 2024. US performance in 2025 has been mixed, as sales have slumped at times amid new tariffs on China. Weekly US order volume dropped in mid-May compared to mid-April, BI previously reported. The company wrote in a blog post that platform sales were up 120% for the first half of June compared to the same period the previous year.
Beyond layoffs, TikTok also culled staff during performance reviews in March, when some employees were offered the option to accept a performance-improvement plan or leave the company via a mutual separation agreement. As some US team members have departed, leaders from China and Singapore with knowledge of TikTok's Chinese sister app, Douyin, have consolidated control of the business, employees previously told BI.
Wednesday's job cuts arrive as TikTok is in the middle of talks with the Trump administration over a 2024 law that requires ByteDance to separate from TikTok in the US.
Trump said in a Fox News interview late last month that his administration aimed to approve a bid for TikTok's business from a group of "very wealthy people." Any deal with ByteDance around a TikTok sale would also require approval from the Chinese government.
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The Texas judge ordered Paramount and Trump's lawyers into mediation. Talks began April 30. That weekend, '60 Minutes' ran its report on Trump and the law firms, riling Redstone and others. The Trump team and Paramount were already far apart, the sources said. Soon, CBS News and Stations President Wendy McMahon was forced out. Knowledgeable sources attributed her departure to months of strife and persistent criticism from Redstone, who serves as Paramount's chair. McMahon also made missteps, including overseeing an unsuccessful reboot of 'CBS Evening News.' Her exit followed that of Bill Owens, the longtime executive producer of '60 Minutes,' who fought efforts to settle. The day McMahon was ousted, left-leaning U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) lobbed a salvo at Redstone. 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His team anticipates that Paramount networks eventually will run millions of dollars worth of free commercials, or public service announcements, in support of Trump causes, including combating antisemitism and increasing border security. Paramount denied this. 'Paramount's settlement with President Trump does not include PSAs,' the company said in a statement. 'Paramount has no knowledge of any promises or commitments made to President Trump other than those set forth in the settlement proposed by the mediator and accepted by the parties.' Skydance declined to comment. Emanuel did not respond to messages. The settlement does contain another provision championed by Trump.'60 Minutes' will release transcripts of interviews with eligible U.S. presidential candidates after those interviews air, 'subject to redactions as required for legal or national security concerns,' Paramount said. 1st Amendment advocates were discouraged by the deal. So were Trump's enemies, including the senators who had vowed to investigate the deal for bribery. Paramount's move to 'settle a bogus lawsuit with President Trump over a 60 Minutes report he did not like is an extremely dangerous precedent,' Sanders, the U.S. senator, said in a statement. 'Paramount's decision will only embolden Trump to continue attacking, suing and intimidating the media.'
