ByteDance raises pay, boosts bonuses to retain staff amid AI talent war

Beijing-based ByteDance has raised pay and sweetened incentives as the TikTok owner steps up efforts to retain and attract talent globally, as it makes progress on settling the future of its US business.\nIn an internal letter released to all staff on Friday and seen by the Post, the social media giant said it would lift both the upper and lower limits of compensation packages for staff across all ranks.\nFor its full-year 2025 performance cycle – with reviews starting on January 15, 2026 – ByteDance said its total bonus pool would increase by 35 per cent from a year earlier, while spending on compensation adjustments would rise 1.5 times.\nA ByteDance spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Saturday.\nThe company said it was “raising the ceiling for compensation and incentives to ensure that our compensation competitiveness and incentives are industry-leading on a global scale”.\nThe company also said it would increase the cash portion of compensation while reducing the share paid in stock-based awards such as options or restricted stock units (RSUs). Equity incentives will now vest over three years instead of four, shortening the payout period for total equity grants.\nIn addition, the company said it would streamline its job-grading system into 10 levels, from L1 to L10, redefining capability requirements at each level to “higher standards” and creating more room for future pay rises.\n\nAs competition for talent in the AI sector intensified, ByteDance was the top recruiter in China’s tech sector this year, with a hiring index of 897, ahead of Meituan at 587 and Alibaba Group Holding (owner of the Post) at 407, while AI-related job listings surged 543 per cent, a recent report by Maimai, China’s largest professional social networking platform, showed.\nThe index was calculated as the volume of new job postings divided by a fixed coefficient.\nThe pay and job-level overhaul came as ByteDance’s years-long negotiations over the future of its US business neared an end. TikTok chief executive Chew Shou Zi on Thursday informed employees that it had signed agreements with investors including Oracle Corporation, Silver Lake and MGX to form a new US joint venture, TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC.\nThe venture, which will oversee US data protection, algorithm security, content moderation and software assurance, will be owned by Oracle, Silver Lake and MGX with 15 per cent each; 30.1 per cent held by affiliates of certain existing investors of ByteDance; and 19.9 per cent retained by ByteDance.\nThe company said the venture would be governed by a seven-member board with a majority of American members and subject to measures aimed at safeguarding US data and national security. It is set to take effect on January 22, 2026.\n