BEIJING: ByteDance, the Chinese high-tech start-up that owns TikTok, handed out a rare half-month bonus for its employees on Tuesday, to motivate its workforce amid pressure from the crackdown by the Trump administration in the US.
According to an internal memo seen by the Global Times on Tuesday, the half-month bonus will come with the salary for September. Eligible employees are those who worked full time for at least 26 days between July 1 and August 31.
“Over the past few months, we have been working together to overcome challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic and changing macro environment,” ByteDance said in the memo.
“To thank everyone for their efforts and dedication, we will be issuing a cash bonus to all eligible employees,” it read.
A Beijing-based employee of ByteDance, who asked to remain anonymous, told the Global Times on Tuesday that the bonus is an effective way to boost staff morale, especially at a time when the company’s TikTok app is under pressure from the Trump administration.
TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer quit the company in August just months after his appointment, a move that was widely interpreted as the result of a conflict of views between Mayer and Zhang Yiming, founder of ByteDance, who seems unwilling to give in to the US bullying, analysts said.
Major US investors in ByteDance want TikTok to be completely divested so they can gain a controlling stake in the company and later introduce other, smaller stakeholders like Microsoft and Oracle, in the hope that Trump will not ban the app, according to a report by domestic news outlet LatePost.
– The Daily Mail-Global Times News exchange item
