According to President Donald Trump, Rupert Murdoch and his son Lachlan are anticipated to be among a group of investors attempting to purchase TikTok in the United States. Trump stated that the men would “probably” be part of a planned agreement to keep TikTok operational in the US during an interview with Fox News that aired on 21 September.
He added that Michael Dell, the founder of Dell, and Larry Ellison, the chairman of Oracle, would probably be engaged. Trump called the guys “American patriots” and stated, “I think they’re going to do a really good job.” The US and China are moving closer to an agreement that would sell the social media platform’s American operations to US investors, the president said during a phone conversation with his Chinese counterpart earlier this week.
Why TiTok Needs to Sell its Business to US Investors?
A law approved by Congress in April 2024 would have prohibited the app unless its Chinese parent firm, ByteDance, sold its US unit, necessitating the sale. Concerns that Beijing would obtain the personal information of TikTok’s 170 million American users led to the proposal of this law. Until a deal is reached, its enforcement is on hold. Trump stated on Fox’s The Sunday Briefing that “they’re very well-known people” who would generate a “tremendous amount” of money in response to a question about who was involved in the potential TikTok agreement.
Among these is Larry Ellison. He’s part of it. Michael Dell, a wonderful man, is involved. Unfortunately, there is a man named Lachlan involved. “Are you familiar with Lachlan?” he said. “And Rupert is probably going to be in the group.” The family’s media giant, which includes Fox Corp and News Corp, was recently taken control by Lachlan Murdoch, ending a protracted struggle with his siblings over succession. News Corp. chairman emeritus Rupert Murdoch is 94 years old.
Following Trump’s remarks on Sunday, US media outlets indicated that the Murdochs would not be investing in their personal capacity, but rather through Fox Corp. They are well-known for their conservative viewpoints and right-leaning media outlets, such include Fox News and the Wall Street Journal. However, Trump, who is now suing the Wall Street Journal for defamation after a report said he signed Jeffrey Epstein’s birthday book, has also occasionally taken offence at them.
US Eager to Crack TikTok Deal
In response to political pressure to remove the social networking app’s US operations from its Chinese owners, ByteDance, the White House has increased hopes that a deal is almost final.
According to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, a deal might be inked “in the coming days” on Saturday. Speaking to Fox as well, Leavitt stated that Oracle will oversee data and privacy for the app in the US and that “America will also control the algorithm.”
The possibility of the Murdochs and Ellisons, two of the most influential families in US media, obtaining substantial control over one of the most widely used social media apps in the country is increased by the planned TikTok merger. China has not officially stated if an agreement has been reached or not.
Quick
Shots
•Congress passed a law in April 2024
requiring TikTok’s Chinese parent ByteDance to sell its US business or face a
nationwide ban.
•Involvement likely through Fox Corp,
not personal investment; Lachlan Murdoch recently took control of the family
media empire.
•Oracle expected to oversee TikTok’s
US data security and algorithm control.
•Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said
a TikTok deal could be finalized “in the coming days.”
The Wall Street Journal report, which cited internal sources, claims that TikTok has started a new round of layoffs that would impact workers in the UK as the company works towards artificial intelligence to automate content filtering.
The activities of TikTok in South and Southeast Asia will also be impacted by this worldwide restructure. Hundreds of individuals are anticipated to lose their jobs, according to reports, even though the corporation has not revealed the precise number of roles that will be removed.
Why TikTok Is Laying Off Employees
In response to the layoffs, TikTok emphasised that the action is not merely a cost-cutting measure but rather a component of a larger strategic realignment. The company wants to streamline overlapping functions and concentrate more on e-commerce integration, AI-driven content discovery, and improving tools for creator monetisation.
“We are continuing a reorganisation that we started last year to strengthen our global operating model for trust and safety,” a spokeswoman told the Wall Street Journal.
Severance Packages and Employee Reactions
Although the work environment is described as “tense but not panicked”, affected employees will receive severance payments and transition support. As the business navigates uncertain waters, many teams are preparing for potential future changes, the report continued.
The layoffs occur as regulatory scrutiny increases, particularly in the US, where TikTok may be subject to forced divestitures or bans because of national security concerns. The urge to compete is increasing as competitors like YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels increase their investments in artist ecosystems.
In order to preserve agility and concentration, ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, is also simplifying operations across its portfolio by reducing experimental initiatives and combining teams.
TikTok’s AI-Driven Strategy and Content Moderation
In an effort to automate content assessment and reduce moderators’ exposure to upsetting content, TikTok has been increasing its investments in artificial intelligence (AI) and other moderation technologies.
The corporation claims that automatic algorithms now identify and remove more than 85% of content that was previously removed for breaking rules. Conversely, competing social media networks are turning away from stringent content control.
Meta Platforms said earlier this year that it would remove speech limitations and stop fact-checking on Facebook and Instagram, adopting X’s strategy after Elon Musk loosened moderation guidelines after acquiring the platform in 2022.
Quick
Shots
•Company shifting towards AI-driven
content filtering and moderation.
•Operations in South and Southeast
Asia also affected by restructuring.
•Layoffs part of strategic shift
toward e-commerce, AI content discovery, and creator monetisation.
•Affected employees to receive
severance packages and transition aid.
German TikTok workers have organised fresh strikes in protest of widespread layoffs in the company’s safety and trust division. As part of a broader strategy the firm has been implementing across offices worldwide, the social media giant has announced intentions to dismantle its entire Berlin moderation section, which is in charge of eliminating damaging content, and transfer the work to artificial intelligence and outside contractors.
Berlin Moderation Team Faces Complete Shutdown
According to German media reports, the relocation will result in the loss of 150 jobs. In recent weeks, the trade union that represents the employees has pressed TikTok for negotiations.
Union Response to TikTok Job Cuts
The union issued the company a list of demands, including severance pay for impacted employees and prolonged notice periods of up to a year, according to Kalle Kunkel, ver.di’s representative for the Berlin-Brandenburg region. TikTok hasn’t responded as of yet. In essence, they replied, “We don’t want to talk to you,” Kunkel recalled. “We went on two strikes after that, but nothing has changed.”
40% Reduction of German Workforce
The Berlin moderating staff caters to the approximately 32 million active users who speak German. Despite having offices in multiple locations in Germany, TikTok’s major base is the capital, where it employs about 400 people.
Its local workforce would be reduced by nearly 40% if the trust and safety workers were cut. The proposed cuts are intended to “streamline workflows and improve efficiency”, according to TikTok spokesperson Anna Sopel, who also emphasised that “we remain fully committed to protecting the safety and integrity of our platform.”
Like teams throughout the world, Germany’s trust and safety team is responsible for making sure videos don’t contain offensive material like violence, pornography, false information, or hate speech, or they don’t break corporate policies. The union claims that each moderator examines up to 1,000 videos every day, frequently with the assistance of AI techniques.
Global Impact — Netherlands, Malaysia, and Beyond
TikTok has been reducing its trust and safety activities worldwide over the past year, gradually substituting automated technology for human moderators. The entire 300-person content moderation crew in the Netherlands was fired by the firm in September.
AI vs Human Moderators — The Debate Over Safety
It revealed intentions the following month to install AI-powered systems in Malaysia to replace about 500 moderators. Significant numbers of trust and safety employees throughout Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa were being trimmed, according to a February Reuters story.
The German layoffs come after Shou Zi Chew, the CEO of TikTok, testified before the US Congress in 2024 and promised to raise funding for safety and trust. He pledged more than $2 billion at the time to help a team of more than 40,000 individuals worldwide.
Quick
Shots
•TikTok
replacing human content moderators with AI systems and external contractors.
•Part
of a global cost-cutting and efficiency drive
•Entire
Berlin trust & safety division to be shut down.
•About
150 jobs to be lost, affecting moderation for 32M German-speaking users.
They newly formed collaboration between Hbar Foundation and Tim Stokely, the creator of OnlyFans, announced on 3 April that it has submitted a late-stage plan to buy the short video app TikTok from its Chinese owner, ByteDance. The Hbar Foundation, which oversees the treasury of the Hedera cryptocurrency network, and Zoop, the new business of millionaire Stokely, sent the intent to bid to the White House this week. OnlyFans is mostly renowned for its erotica content. On the other hand, Zoop is a mainstream, family-friendly website that rewards its users for increasing user engagement by returning the majority of its profits to the people who post on it. RJ Phillips, a co-founder of Zoop, told the media that the company’s offer for TikTok is about establishing a new paradigm. This development means the value that creators create directly benefits their communities as well as themselves. According to Phillips, the partners have been collaborating with a group of investors. He refused to elaborate on the bid or the investors supporting it.
Amazon also Putting its Bid
According to a media report, Amazon also made a last-minute bid to acquire TikTok on 2 April. US President Donald Trump is anticipated to review a proposal for TikTok that would determine the future of the 170 million-user app. According to US legislation that went into force on January 19, ByteDance has until April 5 to sell TikTok or risk being banned from the US for national security reasons. Concern in Washington that TikTok’s ownership makes it accountable to the Chinese government and that Beijing could use the app to carry out influence operations. These concerns were reflected in the bill, which was passed last year with widespread backing from both parties. Supporters of TikTok contend that the prohibition violates the First Amendment of the US Constitution, which protects free speech, by illegally threatening to deny Americans access to foreign media.
Trump Pushing the TikTok Deal
After taking office in January, Trump delayed the law’s implementation until April 5 in order to negotiate an agreement. He has stated that if necessary, he could further extend the deadline. According to a media outlet, discussions on TikTok have come to a consensus on a plan for the largest non-Chinese investors in ByteDance to increase their investments and buy the app’s US business. Without naming the groups, Trump said last month that his administration was in contact with four of them on a potential TikTok merger. The White House is acting as an investment bank in the much-publicised TikTok sale, and US Vice President JD Vance is in charge of the bidding.
ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, has received a revised proposal from Perplexity AI that calls for the formation of a new firm that would combine Perplexity with TikTok’s US operations. The US government would be able to own up to 50% of the organisation under this new structure, according to an AP investigation. According to the source, the revised proposal, which was filed last week, expands upon a previous one that was given to ByteDance on January 18, the day before the US law that banned TikTok went into force.
The initial plan included a structure for combining Perplexity, a San Francisco-based company, with TikTok’s US operations and obtaining more capital from investors. The plan provides ByteDance with a compromise that permits it to keep some ties to TikTok without completely cutting them off. ByteDance would have to cede control to a board that is entirely based in the US, though.
According to the updated plan, upon an initial public offering (IPO) of at least $300 billion, the US government might purchase up to half of the new company’s shares. According to media reports, the US government would not be granted a seat on the company’s board or have voting rights over these government-owned shares.
Crucially, the deal states that the US business that ByteDance provided would not include TikTok’s secret technology, which forms the basis of the app’s content recommendation engine.
Trump Supporting Musk to Crack TikTok Deal
In the past, US President Donald Trump has spoken out in favour of Tesla CEO Elon Musk purchasing TikTok, proposing an innovative deal whereby the US government would control 50% of the company in return for operating licenses.
At a press briefing on January 21, Trump responded, “I would be, if he wanted to buy it, yes,” in response to a question regarding Musk’s potential interest in the platform. Additionally, he named Larry Ellison, the chairman of Oracle, adding, “I’d like Larry to buy it, too.”
TikTok Restores Services in USA
Following U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement last week that he would restore TikTok’s access in the nation if he regained power, the app’s services were resumed. Due to a law citing national security, TikTok blocked its app for users in the United States.
President Donald Trump stated on 25th January that he was in discussions with several parties about purchasing TikTok and that he would probably make a decision regarding the future of the well-known app within the next 30 days.
Growth of Perplexity AI
Over the previous 12 months, Perplexity AI has grown significantly. The company was valued at approximately $500 million at the beginning of 2024. By year’s end, the figure had risen to $9 billion. This expansion was greatly aided by the generative AI boom, as more investors recognised the potential of AI search tools as a significant threat to Google. Nevertheless, Perplexity hasn’t had an easy time. The business has occasionally been in the news for the wrong reasons due to criticism it has received for alleged plagiarism.
We’re pretty sure that most people are now aware of the impact TikTok can have on their business. When entrepreneurs start using TikTok, they can sometimes be disappointed if their growth is not as fast as expected. This often happens when they compare their efforts to those of other creators. For the best possible outcome with TikTok, you need to understand how the platform works and how to set SMART marketing goals.
Engagement on any platform doesn’t happen overnight so you’ll want to focus on creating a sense of community. Your engagement and the content you share need to make your audience feel heard. Doing outbound engagement is something that’s also important. Reciprocity (when someone returns engagement) can also help increase your engagement since many people who receive likes and comments on their videos will return the favor.
Get ready to take some notes as we’ll share some of our best tips to help startups and entrepreneurs increase their engagement rate on TikTok.
The engagement rate on TikTok refers to how many people react to your content in your audience. With TikTok, this includes likes, comments, shares, and more. Responding to comments and leaving comments on other relevant accounts will help you grow your engagement rate.
According to data, between August 2022 and January 2023, for videos over 54 seconds, the engagement rate was 8.2 percent. Videos less than 10 seconds had an engagement rate of 6.3 percent. TikTok engagement rate tends to be a bit higher than other platforms when you have a good strategy in place.
In the beginning stages, you shouldn’t expect this type of engagement, and the same applies to inactive accounts that are just starting to post again.
How Can Startups and Entrepreneurs Set SMART Goals on TikTok?
One of the best ways your brand can achieve an incredible engagement rate is by setting SMART goals. Smart goals are defined as specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound.
Entrepreneurs and startups need to remember that when we set goals that are realistic and measurable, it’s easy to tie efforts to results. If you’re setting engagement goals based on what other creators seem to achieve, that will be hard to measure and doesn’t make much sense.
Even if you take inspiration from a brand similar to yours, remember that their audience needs may differ from what your audience needs or wants.
Here’s an example of a SMART goal for Increasing Engagement
Achieving an engagement rate of 5% within 60 days of starting our TikTok account by posting three views per day. The first video we create is going to be a problem-aware video. For the second video, we will chat about an industry myth, and the third video is going to be a day-in-the-life video showcasing behind-the-scenes content of our founder and team members. Along with these steps, our team will engage with other strategic accounts daily to help with visibility efforts. We’ll also respond to each comment received on our content and, when we see fit, do a video response if we receive any questions.
Here is why this is a SMART goal:
The goal is specific because we established our desired engagement rate and specific actions that we will take. This goal is measurable because we outlined the exact steps we would take to get there. This goal is also achievable because we aimed for an engagement rate that is slightly lower than the norm, and we are giving ourselves enough time to achieve it since we plan on being very consistent with the platform.
It’s realistic because we aren’t trying to set a goal that is difficult to measure, such as a broader goal of going viral. Our actions and timeline make this goal time-bound.
As we can see with this example, it’s easy to measure a goal and set realistic expectations for success when using SMART goal indicators.
How to Boost Your Engagement Rate
You now have the best knowledge to set smart goals and increase your engagement rate on TikTok. We’ve outlined a few of our best tips to increase engagement on TikTok.
Use Positive and Authoritative Trigger Words
Trigger words in video hooks are known to drive an increase in engagement. Try using trigger words at the beginning of your video or as text overlay on your video cover. Some trigger words that we would recommend are exclusive, unleash, transform, unlock, secret, and best-kept.
Storytelling Goes a Long Way on TikTok
Brands often over-complicate the process of storytelling. If you were to share your brand story, instead of sharing a few facts about your brand, start from the beginning. Share your unique story of why you started your business. What was life before, and what is life like now? You could do a video about a time that a team member made you really proud or when they inspired you to do something. Storytelling gets to be simple.
Create a Content Schedule
Planning and scheduling your content is going to be your best friend. This also allows for more time to do some outbound engagement. If you see a trend that your audience would enjoy, you’ll have more time to do these on occasion.
Work With an Influencer Marketing Agency
Influencer marketing agencies are one of the best-kept secrets when it comes to growing engagement on TikTok since they are very knowledgeable when it comes to helping brands grow their reach on TikTok. Collaborating on a campaign with an influencer when you are getting started on TikTok can be a great way to boost your visibility and propel your growth on the platform.
Remember that the key is to set realistic goals combined with understanding the needs of your audience. You are now ready to combine this knowledge, make an impact, and increase your engagement rate on TikTok.
TikTok, one of the most valuable media brands worldwide, has a brand value of $66 billion in 2023, $59 billion in 2022, and $18.75 billion in 2021. It is a China-based video-sharing social networking startup owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. TikTok allows users to upload a variety of short-form videos, from genres like dance, comedy, and education. The duration of the videos has been expanded to 10 minutes from 3 minutes (originally 1 minute).
This application gained popularity in a very short period. It became extremely hyped among teenagers. As of now, it has over 1.5 billion monthly active users worldwide. TikTok is the next big thing!
Top 10 Stats to Know About TikTok
Here is a quick snapshot of key TikTok insights:
Origin: Started as Douyin in 2016 by Chinese tech company Bytedance. Launched internationally as TikTok in September 2017. Became popular in China before its international expansion.
User Base: Over 1.5 billion active monthly users globally (Q3 2022). Combined with Douyin users the user base exceeds 2 billion.
Daily Video Views: Over 1 billion videos are viewed daily on TikTok. Content diversity and creator tools contribute to this engagement.
Social Media Ranking: 6th most popular social media platform globally.
Download Numbers: Over 3.5 billion total downloads since launch. Most downloaded app in 2022 with 571 million downloads (Q1-Q3).
User Age Range: 25-34 age range accounted for 25.4% of US TikTok users in 2022. Combined with the 18-24 demographic, 49.3% of users were adults aged 18-34.
Engagement Rate: TikTok’s engagement rate is higher than Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook. Micro-influencers achieve around 18% engagement.
Global Reach: 20.83% of internet users worldwide (4.8 billion) were on TikTok in 2022. It’s available in 154 countries and translated into 75 languages.
User Frequency: 90% of TikTok users access the app daily. Higher user engagement is due to addictive content and relevance.
Indian Ban: Banned in India but still available in 154 countries.
Here are some more amazing facts about TikTok that you probably didn’t know about:
TikTok is predominantly used by younger age groups. But it’s no longer just an app for teens. The 25-34 age group accounted for 25.4% of TikTok users. When combined with the 18-24 age group which is 23.9%, adults in the 18-34 age group accounted for 49.3% of US TikTok users. Also, the age group of 12-17 accounted for 17.7% of US TikTok users in 2022.
TikTok was initially named Musical.ly
One morning Musical.ly users woke up and were surprised to see the app replaced with a new name and a brand new logo! TikTok was named Musical.ly and was again renamed in August 2018.
Bytendance’s parent organization, TikTok got it for a billion dollars in the wake of seeing the accomplishment of the application Musical.ly. Then the two apps were merged and another application called TikTok was created. Today, TikTok App is valued at $400 billion.
TikTok is banned in India
TikTok, the short-video streaming application, was a momentous accomplishment in India when it was released in September 2016, TikTok was permanently banned in India in August 2020 over public safety issues.
India had nearly 200 million users and the fast-growing community suffered a massive blow from this decision. It has been a year since the boycott, and the app, presently neglected and criticized, was once a source of income for some content creators.
Time-management feature in TikTok
TikTok’s Screen Time Management feature offers its users the flexibility to decide the amount of time they spend on TikTok daily. Users can now limit their screen time on TikTok with the help of this feature.
At first, TikTok offered users the chance to restrict screen time to two hours of the day. Presently, users can choose new time limit points of 40, 60, 90, or 120 minutes and choose how long they need to spend on the application each day. This feature is password-encrypted, and valid for 30 days.
If users exceed their screen time limit, they must enter their security password to keep using TikTok. This feature can be found in the Privacy and Settings, under the part Digital Wellbeing section.
In comparison to other social media apps, TikTok has more actively engaged users. Around 34% of all users upload at least one video each day. Like some other social stages, you will develop your crowd by posting consistently. This is because of TikTok’s algorithm- Posts of users with no followers can also go viral and reach millions of people in a day.
TikTok gives its clients an extraordinary natural reach. The TikTok analytics is incredibly sharp and shows what people demand to see.
An average TikTok user spends 50 minutes or more daily
A normal TikTok user spends an average of 50 minutes each day on the application every 24 hours. These users revisit the app several times a day to share content with their friends and post them on other social media platforms.
This data can be viewed as generally significant to those endeavoring to benefit from Ad income and is a good insight to use when promoting plans for brands that are on TikTok. That number is at par with Facebook and Instagram and shows an excellent future for the application.
The application organizers mainly focus on developing an engaging and addictive application. TikTok is particularly addictive, and several users spend a couple of hours every day scrolling through it.
TikTok is used in 154 countries
TikTok has 122 million users based in the United States of America solely, which is the highest by country. Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, is one of the most popular apps in China. It has over 700 million daily active users. The TikTok stage has been particularly invited in other Asian nations like Japan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand.
Countries With the Largest TikTok Audience as of July 2023
TikTok is used more by women than men in the United States
TikTok insights show that 60% of its dynamic users are females while the rest are men. Furthermore, the females are additionally comprised of more individuals between 20 to 29 years old than those between 13 to 19 years.
More than 1.5 billion people use TikTok
As indicated by TikTok insights, more than 1 billion individuals overall are regularly using TikTok. That is much more than Twitter, LinkedIn, and Snapchat. Long gone are the days when TikTok was just a lip-syncing video app.
Today TikTok has over 1 billion monthly active users worldwide and more than 138 million monthly users in the US, and this number is increasing every day.
Songs and Dance trends have gone viral due to TikTok
Many dance trends and songs have turned into web sensations because of the TikTok application. Because of the adaptability that TikTok awards its users, numerous viral online video trends have effectively developed since the worldwide arrival of the application.
The music used by lip-syncing videos and dance trends on TikTok has also become a web sensation on music-sharing applications, for example, Spotify because of TikTok’s free usage of the audio content. Furthermore, sound from any media can likewise be used on TikTok like TV talk and live recorded media.
Most-followed TikTok creator worldwide
As of August 2023, Khaby Lame is the most-followed TikTok creator worldwide with over 162 million followers.
Highest-earning TikTok creator worldwide
As of August 2023, Charlie D’Amelio is the highest-earning TikTok creator worldwide.
FAQs
Why is TikTok so popular?
TikTok is a popular app for creating, watching and sharing short videos. The app is entertaining, addictive, and very engaging. One can get viral over a short time and be a TikTok star. One can generate income as well from TikTok.
Who is the founder of TikTok?
Zhang Yiming is the founder of TikTok.
What is the valuation of TikTok?
As per estimates, the valuation of TikTok is over $50 billion and its parent company ByteDance is worth over $300 billion.
Which country has the most number of TikTok users?
With over 138 million users, the US has the most number of TikTok users.
In a company, one of the most significant factors is the employees. Without them, one cannot even imagine running a company, no matter how small the business is. Your employees are the main assets of your company. However in 2022, we are seeing, some major, popular companies laying off their employees. Some of these layoffs have stunned the world of business as they are even reaching thousands of employees at once.
The reason for the layoffs varies, from cost-cutting to bad performance to financial difficulties. Some of the companies even faced criticism for their sudden decision. Many people lost their jobs during the pandemic and now these strings of similar layoffs are creating a ruckus in the world. The economic situation of the world is also a big reason for these layoffs. According to reports over 8000 people alone in just the first half of 2022 have been laid off by their companies.
In this article, we will talk about those companies who have laid off their employees and their reason for doing that. Furthermore, we will also talk about the companies that have the possibility to follow the path of laying off their employees. So, without any further ado, let’s get started.
“Your employees come first. And if you treat your employees right, guess what? Your customers come back, and that makes your shareholders happy. Start with employees and the rest follows from that.” -Herb Kelleher
Founder – Bill Hewlett, David Packard Founded – 1939 Laid Off – Up to 6,000 Employees (by 2025)
HP – Top Companies Laying off Its Employees
The American multinational IT Company, HP has joined the list of top tech companies laying off its employees. HP will lay off 4,000 to 6,000 employees, which is around 10% of its current global workforce of 61,000, over the next three years as a part of its cost-cutting efforts.
The company will also reduce its real estate footprint along with the layoffs. HP’s ‘Future Ready Transformation’ plan is expected to save the company as much as $1.4 billion annually by the end of 2025. It expects the restructuring and other activities to cost around $1 billion.
India’s prominent food delivery startup, Zomato, is reportedly planning to lay off its employees on account of its cost-cutting efforts to become profitable. Zomato is going to lay off about 3-4% of its workforce, which currently consists of nearly 3,800 employees. Around 100 Zomato employees have already been affected in the product, technology, catalogue, and marketing areas. Zomato has called it a “regular performance-based churn.” Earlier, Zomato laid off around 520 employees (13% of its workforce) in May 2020 as a result of the business downturn caused by the pandemic.
Amazon
Founder – Jeff Bezos Founded – 1994 Laid Off – 10,000 Employees (November 2022)
Amazon – Top Companies Laying off Its Employees
Amazon has also joined the bandwagon of layoffs and is reportedly laying off 10,000 employees in corporate and technology jobs. The company’s layoffs will be focused on its device business, including its Alexa products, and its retail and human resources divisions. The layoffs represent less than 1% of Amazon’s global workforce of more than 1.5 million. It is the biggest job cut that Amazon has ever made in its history.
Meta
Founder – Mark Zuckerberg, Andrew McCollum, Chris Hughes, Dustin Moskovitz, Eduardo Saverin Founded – 2004 Laid Off – 11,000 Employees (November 2022)
Meta – Top Companies Laying off Its Employees
On November 9, 2022, Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, announced that it is laying off more than 11,000 employees, accounting for nearly 13% of its workforce. It is one of the biggest tech layoffs of 2022. According to Meta’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, the reasons behind the company’s mass layoffs include the macroeconomic downturn, increased competition, and diminishing ad revenues, which caused Meta’s revenue to be lower than what he had expected.
Meta also plans to cut down its discretionary expenses and continue the hiring freeze through the first quarter of 2023.
Twitter
Founder – Jack Dorsey, Biz Stone, Evan Williams, Noah Glass Founded – 2006
Twitter Recent Layoffs
November 2022
3,700 employees
July 2022
100 employees
Twitter – Top Companies Laying off Its Employees
Twitter is an American communications company founded by Jack Dorsey, Biz Stone, Evan Williams, and Noah Glass on March 21, 2006. Currently headquartered in San Francisco, California, United States, Twitter is one of the biggest social media platforms that has been all over the news in relation to one of the biggest acquisitions in modern times ($44 billion), led by billionaire techie, Elon Musk. Twitter laid off 30% of its staff (nearly 100 employees) from the recruiting team in July 2022.
On November 4, 2022, Twitter laid off about 3,700 employees, accounting for nearly 50% of its global workforce, including 90% of employees in India, as a way to cut costs following the company’s acquisition by Musk, which closed on October 27, 2022.
Founder – Amod Malviya, Vaibhav Gupta, Sujeet Kumar Year – 2016 Laid Off – 350 Employees (November 2022)
Udaan – Top Companies Laying off Its Employees
Udaan, a B2B eCommerce platform and a proud unicorn startup in India has joined the list of top companies laying off its employees. The startup laid off about 350 full-time employees in November 2022 in order to attain profitability and better efficiency. However, this is not the first time that the startup has laid off its employees. Earlier in June 2022, it laid off 180 employees as a part of its cost-cutting initiatives. The second round of its layoffs this year comes only a week after the startup raised $120 million through convertible notes and debt.
Coinbase
Founder – Brian Armstrong and Fred Ehrsam Founded – 2012
Coinbase Recent Layoffs
November 2022
60
June 2022
1,100
Coinbase – Top Companies Laying off Its Employees
Coinbase is an online platform from which you can buy and sell cryptocurrency. The employees of the company work remotely and it doesn’t have any headquarters. It is considered the biggest crypto exchange platform. On a very shocking note, the company laid off around 1,100 of its employees which amounts to almost 18% of its workforce in June 2022. According to the company, the decision has been taken to control and manage the expenses of the company with the ongoing situation in the market.
Coinbase laid off another 60 employees from its recruiting and institutional onboarding departments in November 2022.
Unacademy
Founder – Gaurav Munjal, Hemesh Singh, Roman Saini Founded – 2015
Unacademy Recent Layoffs
November 2022
350 employees
June 2022
150 employees
Unacademy – Top Companies Laying off Its Employees
One of the biggest EdTech companies in India shocked everyone this year when they decided to lay off around 600 employees. It was a sudden decision in the month of April. The reasons for this layoff were said to be that the performances of the employees were not good enough.
After that, the edtech giant laid off 150 employees in June 2022. On November 7, 2022, Unacademy conducted another round of layoffs and laid off around 350 employees, accounting for nearly 10% of its workforce of 3,500, as the company tries to cut its expenses and generate a profit.
Microsoft
Founder – Bill Gates, Paul Allen Founded – 1975
Microsoft Recent Layoffs
October 2022
1,000 employees
August 2022
200 employees
July 2022
1,800 employees
Microsoft – Top Companies Laying off Its Employees
Microsoft Corporation or Microsoft was founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen on April 4, 1975. Microsoft is an American multinational technology corporation that is unarguably one of the biggest tech companies in the world today. However, after the company announced that it would be laying off as part of a “realignment”, Microsoft also joined the list of big companies laying off their employees. Besides, it is also important to note that Microsoft became the first tech giant to lay off employees.
Microsoft laid off 1,800 employees in July 2022, and a month later, it laid off another 200 employees. In October 2022, it laid off around 1,000 employees, marking the third round of layoffs in the same year.
BYJU’S
Founder – Byju Raveendran, Divya Gokulnath Founded – 2011 Laid Off – 2,500 (October 2022)
BYJU’S – Top Companies Laying off Its Employees
In October 2022, the biggest Edtech in India, BYJU’S took a drastic decision and announced that it will lay off 2,500 employees or 5% of its workforce. The unicorn, even after reaching a valuation of around $22 billion, decided to sack its employees. The startup’s co-founder and CEO blamed macroeconomic conditions and the startup’s plans to achieve profitability by the end of the current financial year as the reasons behind mass layoffs.
Noom
Founder – Saeju Jeong, Artem Petakov Founded – 2008
Noom Recent Layoffs
October 2022
500 employees
April 2022
500 employees
Noom – Top Companies Laying off Its Employees
Noom is a wellness app that deals with tracking the weight of a person and also focuses on mental health. The company in the month of April announced the dismissal of 500 employees. The layoff is done because of the sole reason for changing the coaching model. The strategy of coaching has been changed, and the employees were dismissed for the betterment of the business. In October 2022, Noom laid off about 500 employees, accounting for nearly 10% of its total staff.
Clear
Founder – Ankit Solanki, Archit Gupta, Srivatsan Chari Founded – 2011 Laid Off – 190 to 200 Employees (September 2022)
Clear – Top Companies Laying off Its Employees
India’s leading Fintech SaaS startup, Clear (formerly Cleartax) is another prominent name that has joined the list of companies laying off their employees in 2022. The Bengaluru-based startup laid off 190 to 200 employees across different departments on September 15, 2022. This number amounts to nearly 20% of the company’s workforce. The layoffs are said to be a part of the company’s restructuring efforts to increase its cash flow.
Rupeek
Founder – Sumit Maniyar Founded – 2015
Rupeek Recent Layoffs
September 2022
50
June 2022
180-200
Rupeek – Top Companies Laying Off Its Employees
Rupeek is a digital gold loan provider company whose headquarters is situated in Bengaluru, India. It is present in over 35 cities. The company laid off about 180-200 of its employees which is 10-15% of its workforce in June 2022. The layoff has been done from different departments and teams. Rupeek gave the reason for cost-cutting for firing its employees, the company is looking forward to making its structure leaner and more compatible. In September 2022, Rupeek once again laid off around 50 employees across different departments as part of its strategy to become profitable in the next 12-18 months.
Meesho
Founder – Sanjeev Barnwal, Vidit Aatrey Founded – 2015
Meesho Recent Layoffs
August 2022
300 employees
April 2022
150 employees
Meesho – Top Companies Laying off Its Employees
Meesho, in a sudden and surprising move, fired 150 employees of the company from their grocery business in the month of April. The popular reselling startup in India had its grocery business called Farmiso, which has now been renamed Meesho Superstore. The company is in discussion to merge the grocery store with its main app. The reorganization of the store is said to be the reason for the layoffs. This is also based on their performance in the business till now and their efficiency in adapting themselves to the new form of Meesho Superstore.
A few months later, in August 2022, Meesho laid off more than 300 employees after shutting down its grocery business in India, Superstore.
Better.Com
Founder – Eric Wilson, Erik Bernhardsson, Shawn Low, Viral Shah, Vishal Garg Founded – 2016
Better.com Recent Layoffs
August 2022
250 employees
April 2022
1,000 employees
March 2022
2,000 employees
December 2021
900 employees
Probably the most controversial layoff that has been done is by Better.com. The company was facing the heat since last year when it fired over 900 of its employees over a single Zoom call in December 2021. In March 2022, it laid off 2,000 employees and about 1,000 employees were fired in April 2022. In this year only, they have laid off almost 3000 of their employees. As per the company, the reason for the layoff is based on the performance of the employees. They have stated that the employees are fired because of their lack of productivity and their inefficiency in work. Since December 2021, the company has fired almost 50% of its workforce.
In August 2022, Better.com conducted yet another round of layoffs, by firing about 250 employees.
Ford
Founder – Henry Ford Founded – 1903
Ford Recent Layoffs
August 2022
3,000 employees
April 2022
580 employees
Ford – Top Companies Laying off Its Employees
The American multinational automobile manufacturer Ford, in the month of April, announced that they are laying off 580 of its US employees. This decision comes right after when the company announced that it will restructure the company and will focus on the making of electric vehicles. The dismissal is mainly done by the engineering department as the making of electric vehicles required different skill sets. Therefore, as per the company, it is done for the future needs of the company.
In August 2022, Ford confirmed laying off around 3,000 employees and contract workers. The job cuts are effective September 1, a spokesman said. The reason behind the layoffs is said to be the change in operations and redeployment of resources as the company plans to embrace new technologies that were not previously core to its operations, such as developing advanced software for its vehicles.
Walmart
Founder – Samuel Moore Walton Founded – 1962 Laid Off – 200 Employees (August 2022)
Walmart – Top Companies Laying off Its Employees
Walmart Inc., the popular American retail multinational corporation disclosed that it would be cutting the job roles of hundreds of corporate employees. In its Bentonville, Arkansas, headquarters, Walmart reported on August 3, 2022, that it would have to part with nearly 200 of its employees. The departments that would have to bear the brunt are numerous, including merchandising, real estate, and global technology, among others.
Robinhood
Founder – Vladimir Tenev, Baiju Bhatt Founded – 2013
Robinhood Recent Layoffs
August 2022
700+
April 2022
300+
Robinhood – Top Companies Laying off Its Employees
Consumer investing and trading service company, Robinhood before announcing its financial performance in the first quarter of 2022 announced that they are going to lay off 9% of its employees that is more than 300 of its employees in April 2022. All these employees were their permanent employees. The company went public last year in 2021 but they face a decline in trading, as per reports, this is said to be the main reason for the dismissal. In August 2022, the company again laid off about 23% of its workforce which might account for more than 700 employees. The Financial Times estimated the number of employees impacted to be nearly 780.
Yes, another popular Edtech startup, Vedantu has laid a good number of employees. Vedantu laid off 424 employees both full-time and contractual, in May 2022. Before that, it laid off 200 of its employees in the same month. The reason for this is to increase their Capital runway as per Vedantu. Apart from that, the reopening of schools and classes being conducted offline, are also said to be the reason for the layoffs of the Edtechs. Vedantu again laid off 100 employees across departments, in July 2022. This was done due to the business restructuring procedure that Vedantu is planning.
BlueStacks
Founder – Rosen Sharma, Jay Vaishnav, Suman Saraf Founded – 2011 Laid Off – 120 to 150 Employees (July 2022)
BlueStacks – Top Companies Laying off Its Employees
BlueStacks was founded by Rosen Sharma, Jay Vaishnav, and Suman Saraf in 2011. Headquartered in Campbell, California, United States, BlueStacks is known as the 2nd largest PC gaming platform in the world that aims to bring PC gamers and the Android gaming library. The pouring demand for Android smartphones has helped the company witness humongous growth throughout the year. This popular Android emulator platform has laid off 60 Indian employees, as per reports dated July 20, 2022. BlueStacks reportedly informed a majority of the employees via video calls on July 18, 2022, that their services would not be needed anymore.
Along with India, the company has also cut down its workforce in many other countries as well, from its offices in London, Tokyo, Seoul, and Beijing. The total count of layoffs might be as high as 150 employees as well, ranging between 120-150, according to the reports. The reason behind the layoffs is internal restructuring. BlueStacks has offered 1 month of salary as severance pay to the laid-off employees along with medical benefits, as mentioned by sources.
TikTok
Founder – Zhang Yiming Founded – 2016 Laid Off – 100 Employees (July 2022)
TikTok – Top Companies Laying off Its Employees
TikTok is a short-form video hosting service platform that is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. TikTok has achieved sensational growth in India and across the world for its viral, short-form content, which even resulted in several countries complaining and banning TikTok. The platform is still growing with 8 new users joining TikTok each second. It has over 1 billion monthly active users, as of July 2022.
The popular, controversial ByteDance subsidiary TikTok has reportedly started reducing its workforce by laying off staff working in the EU, EK, and the US. These layoffs, according to Wired and some other news and media networks might affect around 100 TikTok employees, which currently work with a workforce of around 10,000 employees across the US and Europe. The TikTok layoffs are in line with the global restructuring initiatives of the company.
Netflix
Founder – Marc Randolph, Reed Hastings Founded – 1997
Netflix Recent Layoffs
June 2022
300 employees
May 2022
150 employees
Netflix – Top Companies Laying off Its Employees
The biggest streaming platform, in a surprising turn of events, announced that it was going to lay off 150 of its employees across the company in May 2022. Although it was not a huge number, it still became the talk of the town. Some of Netflix’s sudden decisions led to its slower growth of revenue, which was said to be the prime reason for laying off 150 employees. According to Netflix, it was basically done to cut costs at the streaming giant. Netflix recently lost over 2 lakh subscribers and is expected to lose more; this is one of the reasons for its slower revenue growth. In the month of June 2022, Netflix again laid off 300 of its employees, and again the reason was cost cutting.
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Founder – Elon Musk, Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning Founded – 2003 Laid Off – 200 (June 2022)
Tesla – Top Companies Laying off Its Employees
Tesla which was working on its Autopilot advanced driver assistance features has faced a sudden shock. In an unexpected turn of events, Tesla laid off around 200 employees who were working on the autopilot feature in June 2022. This decision comes after Elon Musk asked the company to decrease the headcount by 10%.
CityMall
Founder – Angad Kikla and Naisheel Vardhan Founded – 2019 Laid Off – 191 (June 2022)
CityMall – Top Companies Laying off Its Employees
The three-year-old Ecommerce startup CityMall stuns everyone when it announced the layoff of 191 of its employees in June 2022. The Gurugram-based startup even after raising $75 million, added its name to the list of startups that have laid off their employees in the year 2022. The reason for this layoff as stated by the company is the structural changes that are taking place in the system.
Cars24
Founder – Gajendra Jangid, Mehul Agrawal, Ruchit Agarwal, Vikram Chopra Founded – 2015 Laid Off – 600 Employees (May 2022)
Cars24 – Top Companies Laying off Its Employees
Cars24 said goodbye to over 600 employees of the company, which is 6% of their workforce. The fired people include employees from different departments and roles. The company has not provided any special reason for the layoff and has only stated that it is based on the performance of the employees. Every year employees are laid off if they are not providing their very best. Cars24 decision of firing its employees comes at a time when the company is looking to expand itself globally.
Klarna
Founder – Sebastian Siemiatkowski, Niklas Adalberth Founded – 2005 Laid Off – 700 (May 2022)
Klarna – Top Companies Laying off Its Employees
Klarna is a Swedish fintech company that deals with online financial services. In a pre-recorded video the CEO of the company forwarded the news to the employees that the company will lay off 10% of the global workforce. Almost 700 employees were affected by this decision in May 2022. The CEO said that the Ukraine-Russia war and a likely recession are the reason behind this drastic step.
In September 2022, the company disclosed over a video meeting that it is planning another round of layoffs in an attempt to “reflect” its new and “more focused nature.” According to Klarna, the new round of layoffs will affect less than 100 employees, globally.
MFine
Founder – Prasad Kompalli, Ashutosh Lawania Founded – 2017 Laid Off – 500 (May 2022)
MFine – Top Companies Laying off Its Employees
MFine is a digital health platform based in Bengaluru that provides services like doctor consultations, diagnostic tests and others. The health platform’s sudden turn of events laid off almost 500 employees of the company in May 2022. It is almost 50% of their workforce. The company hired employees even in the month of April but after the struggle to raise funds started increasing, it decided to lay off its employees.
Blinkit
Founder – Albinder Dhindsa Founded – 2013 Laid Off – 1,600 approx (March 2022)
Blinkit – Top Companies Laying off Its Employees
Blinkit, previously known as Grofers is an online grocery shopping platform, recent in the month of March it laid off some of its employees. It is said to be 5% of their workforce which is about 1,600. The layoff has been done in mostly three cities, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Mumbai. The company has spent almost INR 600 Crores to focus on their 10 minutes delivery offering. Apart from laying off their employees, the online grocery platform is also delaying the payments of the vendors. The main reason for the layoff is said to be cost-cutting.
Trell
Founder – Agrawal, Sachan, Arun Lodhi, Bimal Kartheek Rebba Founded – 2016 Laid Off – 300 (March 2022)
Trell – Top Companies Laying off Its Employees
Nothing seems to be going right for the Social commerce startup Trell. Amidst its investigation of its alleged financial irregularities, it is said to have decided to fire 300 of its employees almost 50% of its workforce. The situation that has led to this decision is mainly the investigation that is going on by EY India. However, the company gave out the reason for restructuring and strengthening the company for the layoff. The roles that are not needed are cut off from the company.
Furlenco
Founder – Ajith Karimpana Founded – 2012 Laid Off – 180 (March 2022)
Furlenco – Top Companies Laying off Its Employees
Furlenco is a startup that provides rented furniture to its customers. The company is said to lay off about 180-200 of its employees. It is also reported that the startup has stopped all their operation in the cities like Kolkata, Jaipur, Chandigarh and Mysuru. The company has given restructuring as the main reason for the firing of their employees, the staffs mostly belong to the customer support and grievance management departments.
OkCredit
Founder – Gaurav Kumar, Aditya Prasad, Harsh Pokharna Founded – 2017 Laid Off – 40 (February 2022)
OkCredit – Top Companies Laying off Its Employees
OkCredit is a digital ledger company and on a shocking front, the company laid off around 40 of its employees in the month of February 2022. The organisation said that the reason for the sudden decision was because of the company’s changes in their priority. This has led to the restructuring of the company and the roles of the employees in the company which has led to the dismissal of several employees from the company.
Lido Learning
Founder – Sahil Sheth Founded – 2019 Laid Off – 150+ Employees (February 2022)
Lido Learning – Top Companies Laying off Its Employees
The employees of Lido Learning faced a shocking and terrible situation when about 150 to 200 of them were laid off in the month of February 2022. Lido Learning has been backed by some of the most prominent investors like Anupam Mittal and Mukesh Bansal. The company also raised over $10 million in the month of September 2021. Lido Learning founder Sahil Sheth informed the employees that because of facing some financial difficulties, the company wouldn’t be able to pay their salaries. Apart from that, some employees were asked to look for other jobs.
Unilever
Founder – Antonius Johannes Jurgens, Samuel van den Bergh, Georg Schicht Founded – 1929 Laid Off – 1,500 Employees (January 2022)
Unilever – Top Companies Laying off Its Employees
Unilever, the consumer goods multinational company revealed its plan to cut 1,500 jobs from the company in January 2022. This will be valid worldwide, the decision comes after its failure to buy the consumer health division of GlaxoSmithKline. Unilever has decided to opt for a more competitive operating model and reorganize the company for its growth and to be more responsive to consumer trends.
DiDi
Founder – Cheng Wei, Zhang Bo, Wu Rui Founded – 2012 Laid Off – 3000 (February 2022)
DiDi – Top Companies Laying off Its Employees
Chinese Ridesharing service DiDi decided to lay off 20% of its workforce in the month of February. Approximately 3,000 employees lost their jobs because of this decision. The reason for this decision is said to be the regulatory pressure that the company faced since an investigation was launched against the company last year. With its shares facing a huge decline and the company suffering a loss, the decision was taken to analyse the whole matter.
Royal Mail
Founder – Henry VIII Founded – 1516 Laid Off – 700 (January 2022)
Royal Mail – Top Companies Laying off Its Employees
The postal company of Britain, Royal Mail has been present for centuries. The company in January 2022 decided to cut off 700 employees of theirs. This decision comes after the company faced problems because of Covid, which has led to delays in deliveries. The performance of the postal company was criticised, therefore to bring change and restructure the company, they decided to fire their 700 employees.
In October 2022, the company announced that it is planning to cut down its workforce by around 10,000 by August 2023. Royal Mail attributes this decision to ongoing strikes and rising losses at the company.
Nestlé
Founder – Henri Nestlé Founded – 1866 Laid Off – 104 (March 2022)
Nestle Logo
Nestlé is a Swiss multinational food and drink conglomerate. In a sudden decision, the food processing giant has decided to close down its Sweet Earth food facility that is in California. This has led to the laying off of 104 employees in March 2022. The decision comes after, the plant-based meat company was seen to have negative growth and experience losses. Nestle acquired Sweet Earth Food Facility in 2017, it sells plant-based meat food items.
Tesco
Founder – Jack Cohen Founded – 1919 Laid Off – 1600 (February 2022)
Tesco Logo
Tesco is the biggest supermarket chain in Britain, now the supermarket chain is looking for a major overnight transformation. They are mostly shutting down the meat and fish counters of 300 stores because of low demand. This decision may lead to the layoff of 1600 employees of Tesco. The job cuts are followed as the supermarket chain is on the verge of reorganising itself.
Cineplex
Founder – Ellis Jacob, Garth Drabinsky, Gerald W. Schwartz Founded – 1999 Laid Off – 5000 (January 2022)
Cineplex Logo
Cineplex is a movie theatre chain in Canada. The pandemic situation has created many problems throughout the world, the theatre chain also faced a problem due to this. The company in the month of January announced that it was temporarily laying off 5000 employees of their as theatres are shutting down in Ontario. This decision comes after the surge of the Omicron variant of Corona in the country. However, the layoff is said to be a temporary one.
Primark
Founder – Arthur Ryan Founded – 1969 Laid Off – 400 (January 2022)
Primark Logo
The UK-based multinational fashion retailer Primark has decided to cut off 400 employees of theirs in the month of January. As per reports, the decision was taken to simplify the management structure. As the omicron variant surged and the inflation seems to get serious, the sales of Primark were hit. Now to restructure the company, the layoff was needed.
Conde Nast
Founder – Condé Nast Founded – 1909 Laid Off – 90% of the Workforce
Conde Nast Logo
Conde Nast is one of the biggest global media companies, home to some iconic brands like Vogue, GQ and Vanity Fair. On a quite shocking front, the Magazine giant announced that they will lay off 90% of employees in Russia and will halt the distribution of Vogue Russia and other publications of theirs. The biggest reason for this decision was said to be the Ukraine invasion by Russia. The company has cut off its term permanently with Conde Nast Russia.
Common Reasons for the Layoffs
Big companies and organisations are facing problems and many of them are laying off their employees in response to that. There are multiple reasons, varying from company to company. Some of the common reasons for the layoff are:
Companies are not able to adapt to the situations after the lockdown and pandemic.
Inflation is on the rise again.
Companies facing financial difficulties.
The slowdown of funding in the business world.
The Ukraine invasion by Russia has led many companies to stop doing business with the latter.
The inefficiency of employees.
Restructure and modernisation of a company.
Companies That Have to Freeze Their Hiring
With the economy of the world facing jeopardy and several other reasons, a number of companies have frozen their hiring and they are:
Meta has frozen their hiring and it is said to be lasting through the first quarter of 2023. The main reasons, the company has given are the industry-wide downturn and privacy data changes.
In May 2022, Wayfair froze their hiring for 90 days and again the reason is the situation with the economy of the world.
Twitter freezes their hiring and many of its top employees are getting fired, the sole reason is the ownership change of the company, as it now belongs to Elon Musk.
Google is another company that has slowed down its hiring, though it has not frozen its recruitment yet, as mentioned by Google CEO Sundar Pichai, in the first week of July 2022.
Conclusion
Various companies are taking the step of firing their employees as mentioned above the reason varies from economic conditions to the pandemic to the restructuring of the company, and even the inefficiency of the employees. Apart from all these, there also seems to be a slowdown in funding and pressure by investors to make the company more and more profitable. With the current global economic situation, it seems like the worst is yet to come.
FAQs
What is a layoff?
A layoff simply refers to the termination of an employee of a company. It occurs due to business-related reasons and not because of the employee’s fault. A company may lay off a single employee or multiple employees at the same time.
Why Companies are laying off their employees?
Companies are firing employees for various reasons that vary from economic conditions to the pandemic to the restructuring of the company, and even the inefficiency of the employees.
Which Indian startups are laying off their employees?
Many Indian startups are laying off their employees in 2022, including Udaan, Unacademy, BYJU’S, Vedantu, Meesho, Cars24, Clear, Lido Learning, and more.
Is Meta laying off its employees?
On November 9, 2022, Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, announced that it is laying off more than 11,000 employees, accounting for nearly 13% of its workforce.
How many Twitter employees were laid off?
On November 4, 2022, Twitter laid off about 3,700 employees, accounting for nearly 50% of its global workforce, including 90% of employees in India, following the company’s acquisition by Elon Musk.
In Q2 2022, TikTok was once again the most downloaded app, marking the eighth time in the previous ten quarters that it has maintained the top spot. Since the start of 2020, only Zoom (Q2 2020) and Instagram (Q4 2021) have outperformed TikTok in a quarter.
As the biggest publisher of mobile apps, Meta maintained its position. In Q2 2022, Meta produced half of the top 10 apps, with Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp ranking among the top five. The most downloaded apps in 2022 are:
Surprisingly, an app that faced a lot of criticism is listed at the top in the lists of Overall downloads.
TikTok
In Q2 2022, TikTok was once again the most downloaded app, marking the eighth time in the previous ten quarters that it has maintained the top spot. Since the start of 2020, only Zoom (Q2 2020) and Instagram (Q4 2021) have outperformed TikTok in a quarter.
Instagram
For the fourth consecutive quarter in Q2 2022, Instagram was the most popular app in Asia, followed by Facebook, also owned by Meta. With approximately 65% of all Instagram installs in Asia occurring in India, Instagram is the most popular app in India.
Facebook
Facebook app is the world’s most popular social networking application. It is used almost everywhere for social and business communications. In Q2 2022, Facebook ousted TikTok from the top spot on Google Play in the United States.
WhatsApp
With more than 100 billion-plus downloads, WhatsApp is one of the most popular and widely used chat applications. WhatsApp also supports communication between international phone networks. WhatsApp moved up one spot to take the third-most installed spot in Europe.
Snapchat
Snapchat is a social networking and messaging app, the fifth most popular app in 2022. It allows users to send snaps in the form of pictures, videos, and emojis and chat with other Snapchat users. With 144.35 million users, India had the highest Snapchat user base worldwide as of April 2022. With almost 107 million Snapchat users, the United States placed second overall. It is popular among young people, especially those under the age of 16, which raises privacy issues for parents.
Telegram
Telegram, a cloud-based, cross-platform, encrypted instant messaging service, offers optional end-to-end encrypted video calling, VoIP, file sharing, and other services. Telegram crossed 500 million monthly active users in January 2021. As of the end of August 2021, it had received 1 billion downloads worldwide, making it the most downloaded app internationally in January 2021. The monthly active users on Telegram surpassed 700 million in June 2022.
Messenger
Messenger, a proprietary instant messaging app established by Meta Platforms to send messages, trade files, photographs, videos, stickers, audio, and other media, stands in the seventh position of most downloaded apps in 2022. Users can converse with bots and respond to messages sent by other users. The service also supports voice and video calling.
CapCut offers basic video editing features to help in capturing and snipping moments. Free in-app typefaces, effects, and cutting-edge capabilities like stabilization, chroma key, seamless slow-motion, and keyframe animation have all been alluring. CapCut exceeded 20 million downloads, delivering its highest quarter on the App Store since Q4 2019 in Asia.
WhatsApp Business
WhatsApp Business, standing in the ninth position in Q2 2022, targets small business owners dealing with a few client requests daily. It has a similar user design to the consumer WhatsApp app, with a few extra functions. For instance, businesses get a verified Business Profile. Small businesses can also set up Catalogs to promote and market their goods on the network.
Spotify
Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon founded Spotify, a privately held Swedish supplier of media services and audio streaming, on April 23, 2006. As of September 2022, it had over 456 million monthly active users, including 195 million paying subscribers, making it one of the biggest music streaming service providers.
**These estimates of the top 10 most downloaded apps in the world are as provided by Sensor Tower in Q2 2022. These estimates include unique installs and do not include pre-installed Apple and Google apps.
Every day a ton of new mobile apps are released, making it challenging to keep up with them all. It can be challenging to choose the best one, so if you plan to create your app, be sure to look at the most popular ones worldwide to get a sense of what products are most successful on the market.
The top five apps downloaded the most in 2022 across all stores and categories provide an overview of the general direction users were heading in at the time. The months following the global implementation of lockdown and shelter-at-home policies saw a dramatic increase in app downloads and popularity.
Mobile app and game developers have benefited from being digital even though many industries had to bear the brunt of financial and economic lapses caused by COVID-19. Compared to many other services, digital products are easily accessible and are not much impacted by physical limitations.
FAQs
Which is the most downloaded app in the world?
TikTok is the most downloaded app. It has more than 2 billion downloads worldwide.
Which is the most downloaded app in 2022?
In Q2 2022, TikTok was once again the most downloaded app, marking the eighth time in the previous ten quarters that it has maintained the top spot. Since the start of 2020, only Zoom (Q2 2020) and Instagram (Q4 2021) have outperformed TikTok in a quarter.
“Subway Surfers” is the most downloaded mobile game of the decade, with 1.8 billion downloads.
What were the most downloaded apps during the quarantine?
Aarogya Setu, Zoom, WhatsApp, TikTok, Ludo, Google Pay, Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, Youtube, and Snapchat.
Which is the most used app in the world in 2022?
With over 1 billion active users worldwide, TikTok has received the most downloads and is currently the most used app, closely followed by Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp.
The arrival of TikTok has increased the craze for making short-form videos worldwide. Short video platforms are on the trend. TikTok was the most used Short Video Platform in India which had been downloaded over 611 million times. Ever since it got banned in India on June 29, 2020, over national security issues, after a fallout between both the country. To fill up the gap TikTok left, there has been an onslaught of new short-video platforms. Instagram launched “Reels” immediately after TikTok got eliminated from India.
There are various short-video platforms that have entered the market like Josh, Moj, MX Taka Tak and many more and they are growing exponentially. The reason is that the mobile data price has dropped since the arrival of Jio. And also, android phones with good cameras are available for a reasonable price which led to an increase in the consumption and creation of short video content in India.
Age Group of short video platform users
Now, anyone with a good internet connection and a good camera phone can create and upload short video content. The short video platforms have a wide range of business models and the way of making money differs from one company to another. Moreover, these platforms provide free services to their user which require experiments with the business model. In this article, we will talk about how short video platforms make money. So, let’s get started.
85% of Marketers consider Short-Video Platforms as the most-effective medium for Brand Promotion
Short Videos are enjoyed by people scrolling on social media. Be it Reels on Instagram or TikTok videos, if it’s entertaining it’s bound to catch your attention. There are many brands that introduce challenges in this video platform and ask people to participate. The brand gives money to the platform to introduce the challenge, this way the promotion is done, and people get to interact with the brand while doing the challenge, and thus their work is done.
How to use video content for marketing?
Sponsorship
Sponsorship is another way of earning money for the Short Video platforms. Many companies willingly sponsor short video apps to reach the masses. As these videos are watched by people in bulk, sponsoring them is beneficial for the company to be known by a large number of people who can be their potential customers. It is a win-win situation for both the platform and the sponsor as the platform gets to earn money through it.
Affiliate Marketing
Brands give money to the platform for Affiliate marketing. Here, the platform has to present a video regarding the product of that brand where all information about it has been provided in the video. As people are now attracted to videos more, affiliate marketing helps brands to increase their sales. Thus, nowadays some companies are taking the support of short video platforms and are using them for affiliate marketing.
Collaboration
Whenever there is a new film or a music video is going to be released, the stars or the singers collaborated with the video platforms. This way they get to promote their films or music videos whatever it is and can be presented to many people. Collaboration brings money to the short video platforms and thus it is one way to earn.
In this type of business model, a customer normally pays a one-time fee or rents it to watch videos or live events. It is more commonly known as pay-per-view. This helps you to choose the entertainment videos you want to watch; you can just pay for the content you require and that increases the popularity of this model. It is considered cost-effective as you can choose what type of entertainment you want to watch rather than subscribing to everything in bulk.
TVOD helps to concentrate and offer content to a specific market. You won’t be getting unwanted or unrelated video suggestions and would receive video suggestions according to your likes.
You can find video platforms like YouTube or Instagram using this method to suggest videos. The platforms would keep a track of your activities and give you suggestions on content according to your choice.
That’s the reason most of the time you would be able to find the content according to your choice. The only difference is that you can view videos and content for free on these video platforms.
Subscription Video on Demand (SVOD)
In this subscription-based model, a customer will have to pay an amount monthly, quarterly, or yearly. Through the subscription model, you will be able to view an unlimited amount of content on their platform along with the recently released content.
There will be different subscription models. The services you receive would be better as you pick the most premium version of the models.
The main difference between different subscription models would be that there would be a difference in the prices. Also, you would be getting added services and certain advantages. Most of the time, the in-demand videos would be available for premium subscribers.
This Revenue model is mostly followed by major OTT platforms such as Netflix, YouTube and many more. The subscription model of YouTube is known as YouTube Premium. The main advantage here is that you can choose what you want to watch on these platforms.
Ad-supported Video on Demand (AVOD)
In this model, a customer can view the content for free. It is a platform where you can view the content for free but would receive ads in between your content. The platforms get their major revenue from the ads.
The platform would charge different rates from the advertisers according to what time they would want to play their ad. For example, an ad played at the beginning of the video would cost more than the ad played at the end of the video. The main example of this type of model is YouTube.
On certain platforms like YouTube, even the content creators would receive a specific amount for the ads being played in between their videos. This would encourage the content creators to make and promote more of their content which will indirectly improve the financial position of the platform as well as the content creators.
This is the type of business model normally adopted by companies that want to increase their reach. It is a combination of all the above methods. The platform would want a customer to view it for free at the beginning where they would play some video ads and later convert the customers into the subscription model or transactional video model.
The company would generate revenue from the beginning stage and it would attract a lot of customers as well. This model would provide the customers with a lot of options to choose from. You would be able to choose the model you prefer according to your budget or your likes.
Conclusion
Number of Active Users of Short Video Platforms in India
The demand for short video platforms would keep on increasing in the coming years. The number of active users on Short-video platforms is expected to reach over 650 million by 2025. We would be able to see a lot of content creators and a lot of viral videos being uploaded. With the ban of TikTok in India, there are a lot of new apps coming up along with new features such as Reels, introduced by Instagram to promote short video content.
YouTube has become a platform where people create content as a full-time profession. Short video platforms are going to flourish in the coming future as the entertainment industry is gaining popularity.
FAQs
What is the Business Model of TikTok?
TikTok primarily gains its revenue through advertising.
Which countries have banned TikTok?
TikTok is banned in India and Pakistan only. Though Bangladesh, the United States and Indonesia have attempted a ban on TikTok but later lifted it.
Why is TikTok banned in India?
The Indian government in a statement stated that the decision to ban the app was “to protect the data and privacy of its 1.38 billion citizens”.
Which is the best platform for short videos?
The best platform for short videos based on its features are as follows:-
Instagram
TikTok
Moj
Josh
Likee
Taka Tak
Snapchat
YouTube Shorts
Dubsmash
Which short video app is best to earn money?
The best short video app to earn money are as follows:-
