ByteDance slashes jobs, confirms retreat from gaming business

ByteDance, the parent firm of popular short video platform TikTok, is retreating from the gaming business by cutting jobs and units, the Internet giant said on Monday, following weekend rumors that the Beijing-headquartered company would shut down its whole games division.

"Following a recent (regular business) review, we've made the difficult decision to restructure our gaming business," ByteDance said in a statement on Monday.

This comes in the aftermath of media reports at the weekend, which cited company internal notices as saying that ByteDance would cut its whole gaming business, slashing hundreds of jobs.

ByteDance emphasized that a team was still being retained, but admitted to "significantly scaling back the gaming business," without providing details like how many jobs will be cut.

The gaming business restructuring reflects the company's strategy adjustment, which means it will focus more on major and core businesses like TikTok and Douyin (the Chinese version of TikTok) and e-commerce, industry insiders said.

Earlier, ByteDance reportedly tried to sell its gaming subsidiary Moonton. It also cut jobs at its virtual reality, or VR, unit Pico, which the company acquired in 2021.