User-video platform TikTok is poaching Facebook employees as it expands its workforce in California.
That’s according to a CNBC report which, citing ‘multiple’ people familiar with the matter, also states that the company has recently moved into a new office in Mountain View, CA.
TikTok’s new office, states the report, was the previous location of Facebook-owned Whatsapp’s office, and is just down the road from Facebook’s Menlo Park HQ.
The CNBC report goes on to say that TikTok and its parent-company have hired ‘more than two dozen employees’ from Facebook since 2018 and, quoting another source, says that the salaries it’s offering are sometimes 20% higher than than those paid by Facebook.
The company is also planning to increase its office in Los Angeles to accommodate 1,000 employees by 2020, another source told CNBC.
The Bytedance-owned video sharing platform is currently advertising for a number of California-based roles on LinkedIn.
One of the job ads is for a Los Angeles-based Marketing Partnerships Manager, who will be required to ‘build and maintain relationships with external partners – particularly in Gaming, Music, Sports, Consumer Goods, and experiential events.’
This person will be required to have 5+ years’ experience in marketing, content/audience development in the gaming, music, or event sectors.
Having helped break artists and tracks like Lil Nas X’s Old Town Road., TikTok has seen a rapid increase in the power it wields in the global music industry.
China-based parent company Bytedance, which is rumored to be creating a Spotify-rivalling audio streaming service, announced in June that it now reaches more than a billion monthly active users via TikTok and other services globally.
Tiktok itself hit one billion global app downloads in February, according to global market monitor Sensor Tower, with nearly 100 million in the US and 250m in India.
In addition to CNBC’s report of Facebook employees moving over to TikTok, the company and its parent company have been hiring execs from across the global industry this year.
In July, MBW reported that TikTok had poached key European music rights lawyer as it embarks on legal battle with licensing body ICE. That person was Dr. Joern Radloff, who only two months prior to that was Head of Rights & Repertoire at… ICE.
Meanwhile, in June ByteDance appointed Deezer veteran Henrique Fares Leite to head up its music business relations in Latin America.
And just last week, MBW reported that Ole Obermann, who left his role as Chief Digital Officer at Warner Music Group in June, is rumoured to be set for a big job at Bytedance/TikTok.Music Business Worldwide
