ByteDance Lifts 2025 Bonus Pool by 35% to Compete for Global AI Talent

(Yicai) Dec. 19 -- ByteDance has announced a broad increase in employee compensation, including a 35 percent rise in total annual bonus allocations for 2025, as the company steps up efforts to incentivize, retain, and attract top talent amid intensifying global competition, Yicai learned today.The measures were outlined in an internal email sent to ByteDance employees worldwide, which said the company will continue to invest heavily in talent by enhancing salary competitiveness and strengthening stock option incentives.Specifically, ByteDance will increase its total annual bonus investment for 2025 by 35 percent from last year, a figure that includes performance-based stock options. Spending on salary adjustments will also rise sharply, increasing by 150 percent compared with the previous year. In addition, the company will raise both the minimum and maximum limits of total compensation packages across all job levels.Salary adjustment investment refers to the total funds allocated for pay increases, including base salary raises for all employees, additional increases for key roles, high performers, and promoted staff, as well as the resulting rise in benefits such as social insurance and housing fund contributions.ByteDance said the goal of the move is to ensure that employee compensation competitiveness and incentive returns are “leading among top-tier peers” across all global markets.Yicai noted that this is the first time ByteDance has used the phrase “leading among top-tier peers” in all global markets in internal communications, signaling the company’s ambition to remain the most competitive domestically while also positioning itself in the top global tier to directly address worldwide talent competition.The announcement comes as competition for artificial intelligence talent continues to heat up. Major Chinese technology firms are expanding hiring and retention efforts. In April, Tencent Holdings launched what it called its largest-ever employment plan, pledging to add 28,000 internship positions over three years and increase conversion rates to full-time roles. By 2025, Tencent plans to recruit 10,000 campus interns, with 60 percent of positions open to technical talent.In May, Alibaba Cloud said it has been continuously recruiting AI talent from top universities worldwide since launching its internship program for the 2026 cohort, marking its largest campus recruitment drive for AI professionals in recent years.Demand and mobility in the AI job market remain strong. Data from Zhaopin show that in the third quarter, the number of job openings in the AI sector rose 11 percent year on year, while the number of job seekers increased 23 percent. For the first three quarters as a whole, AI job openings grew 3 percent from a year earlier, while the number of candidates surged 39 percent.Editor: Emmi Laine