China’s ByteDance will lay off staff at its Indonesian unit following a deal where it acquired a local e-commerce firm and merged it with its TikTok operations, a spokesperson announced on Friday.
ByteDance, the owner of TikTok, did not disclose the number of employees affected. However, it was earlier reported that 450 jobs would be cut.
In January, ByteDance finalized a deal to purchase a majority stake in Tokopedia, an Indonesian e-commerce firm, from the GoTo group.
ByteDance spokesperson Nuraini Razak stated that the company would “make necessary adjustments” due to the integration of TikTok and Tokopedia.
“We identified areas to strengthen our organization and better align our teams with company goals,” she said, emphasizing that the company would “aim to support employees throughout this transition.”
ByteDance had its own e-commerce operation in Indonesia through its TikTok app, but it was banned under an Indonesian regulation that prohibits social media applications from operating as e-commerce platforms.
Tokopedia is one of the leading e-commerce platforms in Southeast Asia’s largest economy.
