Chinese-Owned Company TikTok Is Poaching Facebook Employees, Report Says

A report reveals that Chinese-owned social media app TikTok is poaching employees from one of its biggest rivals.

Chinese-owned social media app TikTok is aggressively working on getting Facebook's employees, CNBC reported. The smaller social media company is reportedly offering Facebook's workers an enticing salary that's bigger than what Mark Zuckerberg's company currently gives.

CNBC, citing anonymous sources, said TikTok has elevated its rivalry with Facebook from a race to get more people to use its app to getting more experienced professionals to work for itself. The Chinese-owned company does this in a variety of ways.

• First, the location. TikTok recently moved its base of operations to an office space in Mountain View, California. This space was previously occupied by Facebook's Whatsapp messaging app. This puts TikTok just miles away from Facebook's base in Menlo Park, and closer to the latter's employees.
• Second, the compensation. According to two former Facebook employees who are now working for TikTok, the smaller social media company offers a competitive salary comparable to that of Facebook's. Another person knowledgeable about the matter added that TikTok even offers up to 20% more compared to the amount Facebook gives to its employees.
• Third, the opportunity. The two ex-Facebook employees said that in addition to getting better perks, TikTok also presents workers with an opportunity to work for a popular social media company as it undergoes a massive growth phase.

Not just Facebook

TikTok and parent company ByteDance, which proudly boasted about seeing 700 million people use its suite of apps on a daily basis, have posted many job listings in the San Francisco area. A person familiar with the matter said it is looking to hire people with experience, particularly those who have the ability to solve problems arising from “high-growth” technology.

The Chinese-owned company has already hired more than two dozen Facebook employees since 2018. Another source familiar with what's happening said TikTok has also hired people from other companies including Amazon, Google's YouTube, Snap and Hulu.

Facebook, for its part, is yet to include TikTok on its list of competitors. Zuckerberg, however, acknowledged that it's growing and has placed it on the company's radar.

“ TikTok ... is really the first consumer internet product built by one of the Chinese tech giants that is doing quite well around the world,” Zuckerberg said, as per CNBC. “It’s starting to do well in the U.S., especially with young folks.”