ByteDance Inc. just kicked off a wave of hiring it envisions hitting 40,000 new jobs in 2020, hoping to match Alibaba’s headcount at a time technology corporations across the globe are furloughing or reducing staff.
The world’s largest startup is recruiting people for 10,000 open positions, of which about a third are high-level research or software coding jobs, according to an internal website provided to staff for candidate referrals and shared with Bloomberg. A ByteDance representative didn’t respond to an emailed request for comment.
New hires around the globe will support the Chinese company’s universe of apps from video platform TikTok to news aggregator Toutiao, while strengthening its operations in new arenas such as e-commerce and gaming. It’s the first salvo of ByteDance’s goal to reach 100,000 staff globally by the end of the year, outlined by Chief Executive Officer Zhang Yiming in an internal memo last month. Once complete, the company will boast roughly the same number of employees as tech giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.
ByteDance, last valued at $75 billion according to CB Insights, is one of China’s most ambitious tech outfits. It has more than 1.5 billion monthly active users across its portfolio of products from Toutiao to mini-video platform Douyin, TikTok’s Chinese twin app.
– This article originally appeared on Caixin Global.
