ByteDance made its announcement at a December town hall meeting that ran about five minutes, a former HR worker said. The invites to the December 1 town hall were sent just a few hours before the meeting, the HR worker added.
Two former and one current ByteDance HR worker spoke anonymously to CNBC. The termination announcement was given in Mandarin with English translation for the benefit of staff on the talent development team located in global offices, one of the HR workers told CNBC.
CNBC also saw an internal memo from ByteDance handed out to HR leaders that informed them that workers who lost their jobs would be permitted to apply for other jobs at the company. “All Talent Development employees were able to apply for different opportunities within the company, and most of the impacted employees have found new roles internally and have successfully transferred and integrated into new teams,” a ByteDance spokesperson said.