The firm opened an office in Australia in 2020, which the Herald understands now employs some 200 staff.
In May this year, CBRE said TikTok had signed a lease for floors 18 to 21 - or some 4800sq m - of Sydney’s tallest office building, The Salesforce Tower, due to open later this year. (Ironically, the tech firm with naming rights is culling just as TikTok is adding. Earlier this week, Salesforce said it would cut 1000 staff worldwide. Salesforce Australia-NZ spokesman Seamus Horan would not respond in detail to questions about the impact on the local operation but offered the Herald the general statement that “Our sales performance process drives accountability. Unfortunately, that can lead to some leaving the business, and we support them through their transition.”)
TikTok Australia is led by former Alphabet executives Lee Hunter and Brett Armstrong, who serve as co-general managers.
Armstrong was head of media agencies and Google marketing platform for Google Australia-New Zealand between 2018 and 2020.
Hunter was previously the search giant’s Asia-Pacific marketing head.
TikTok declined to comment on its New Zealand revenue or user numbers. (The privately-held ByteDance doesn’t break out any financials for any territory (an October 6 Wall Street Journal report, based on financial documents shared with TikTok employees, said the firm’s losses tripled to more than US$7 billion “as it spent heavily to continue its torrid growth”. Revenue increased 80 per cent to US$61.7b. By contrast, Facebook’s 2021 revenue grew 37 per cent to $118b as it booked a US$39b net profit; Twitter made a net loss of US$221m on revenue that rose 37 per cent to $5b.
Both Facebook and Twitter have faced choppier waters in 2022. A Wall Street Journal report over the weekend said TikTok was picking up revenue from advertisers that have hit pause on Twitter while they wait to see how new owner Elon Musk’s rapid-fire and at times chaotic reforms pan out.
But TikTok did say in a statement: “New Zealand is an important and growing market for TikTok. We have recently opened an office in Auckland and have employed local staff, with more hires to come. A New Zealand country manager has also been engaged and is due to start in the coming months. Having a team on the ground will enable us to tell the local story and allow us to share the amazing opportunities TikTok can bring to creators, businesses, SMBs, advertisers, and the wider New Zealand community.”
Last week, TikTok had staff on the ground at the SME & Entrepreneur Festival in Manukau, hosting social media and brand training sessions.
Last week Twitter abruptly culled around 3700 staff, or roughly half of its global workforce.
The firm did not respond to a request for comment (a New York Times report said the social network’s comms team had been largely dismembered).
But many staff took to social media to describe events, including Twitter Australia-New Zealand sales head Jonathan Munschi, who took to LinkedIn with an appeal for other firms to take on laid-off staff.
By contrast, Facebook Australia-New Zealand staff maintained radio silence following founder Mark Zuckerberg’s announcement of 11,000 layoffs. A spokesman would not comment on the impact of the cull on local operations.
Pundits have pinned Facebook’s reversal in fortune this year, in large part, to the rapid rise of TikTok. However, there have also been other factors, including the impact of Apple’s new privacy tools on revenue from targeted ads, and heavy spending on the so far little-loved “metaverse”.
