Seattle tech job cuts continue as TikTok lays off 75 in Bellevue
BELLEVUE, Wash. - In an email sent to the Washington State Employment Security Department, TikTok said it will be laying off 75 employees from its Bellevue facility in Lincoln Square North.
The tech company said the last day for employees who do not find new positions within the company or accept an offer for a new position will be Oct. 19.
Tiktok cites restructuring as reason for layoffs
What they're saying:
TikTok called the layoffs "necessary" and cited restructuring as the primary reason to cut 75 jobs.
The company also said that the move was not connected to "the relocation or contracting out of the Company's operations or the affected position at the facility."
TikTok said it gave affected employees at least 60 days' notice of their separation date, adding that they do not have any union representation or bumping rights.
The jobs included in the layoffs are mostly composed of management positions, data scientists, and software engineers.
Layoffs at the company's location in Nashville were also announced earlier this month, with TikTok saying it was closing its office and laying off all 250 people who worked there.
TikTok background
The backstory:
TikTok is owned by a Chinese company named ByteDance and has global headquarters in Los Angeles and Singapore.
The popular video app also has offices all over the world, including Berlin, Dubai, London, Paris, New York, Tokyo, and more.
In January 2025, ByteDance agreed to move operations to the US. The deal stems from a 2024 law that sought to separate TikTok from ByteDance to "address national security concerns over the app's ties to Beijing," the New York Times writes.
The app first launched in 2016 under the name "Douyin" in China before the international version, dubbed "TikTok" was released the following year.
Tech layoffs in Seattle
By the numbers:
The layoffs from TikTok come after multiple tech companies have done the same in the Seattle area, including Zillow, Microsoft, and Google.
Zillow layoffs to affect 'just over' 500 employees; 91 in WA
Zillow CEO Jeremy Wacksman announced Tuesday that the company is undergoing "organizational changes" that will result in layoffs affecting just over 500 employees.
Earlier this month, Zillow announced that about 500 jobs, including 91 in Washington, would be affected by company restructuring.
Google also laid off 52 employees located in the Seattle area earlier this month, with cuts affecting various engineers and product managers.
And in July, Microsoft said it was cutting nearly 5,000 jobs globally, which included about 600 jobs in Washington.
The Source: Information for this story came from an email sent by TikTok to the Washington State Employment Security Department, GeekWire, and previous articles written by FOX 13 Seattle.
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