TikTok E-Commerce Team Reportedly Hit With Layoffs Days After Trump's ByteDance Deadline Reset

TikTok has reportedly laid off some of its U.S.-based e-commerce governance and experience team, just days after President Donald Trump extended the deadline for parent company ByteDance to divest its U.S. operations.

What Happened: The layoffs affected members of the Governance and Experience team, which handles marketplace safety, seller compliance, and intellectual property protection within TikTok Shop, reported Business Insider, citing five employees at the company. The total number of job cuts is yet unclear.

TikTok's e-commerce unit has been under scrutiny from global leadership after falling short of expectations. In February, top executive Bob Kang criticized the team during an all-hands meeting, and several employees received low performance review scores in March, leading to severance-based exits or performance improvement plans.

This round of layoffs follows earlier cuts in February to TikTok's global trust and safety team, which oversees broader content moderation.

TikTok did not immediately respond to Benzinga's request for comments.

Why It Matters: The move coincides with fresh uncertainty about TikTok's future in the U.S. Last week, Trump extended the deadline for ByteDance to divest TikTok, giving the company an additional 75 days. The previous deadline had expired Saturday.

A deal had reportedly been approved by ByteDance, the U.S. government, and new American investors but collapsed after Trump imposed steep new tariffs on Chinese goods, prompting Beijing to withhold approval.

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In January, ahead of TikTok's initially proposed ban date, Wall Street analysts identified three stocks that could experience significant gains: Meta Platforms, Inc. META, Snap Inc. SNAP and Alphabet Inc. GOOG GOOGL.

Meta is widely seen as the top contender to benefit from a TikTok ban. Morgan Stanley analysts suggest that the company stands to gain the most, noting that if just 10% of TikTok users in the U.S. shift their screen time to Meta’s apps, it could boost Meta's 2026 earnings-per-share (EPS) by approximately $0.60—raising its estimate to around $30 per share.

Deutsche Bank analysts see Snap as the company with the most to gain in terms of percentage upside.

YouTube, Alphabet's video platform, also stands to benefit—especially its short-form content segment. Morgan Stanley estimates that if YouTube manages to draw in 10% of TikTok's screen time, it could see an additional $750 million in ad revenue, representing a 2% lift for YouTube's projected 2026 ad revenue. That would equate to a modest 0.3% increase in Alphabet's total advertising income.

Meta holds a strong growth score of 74.91% based on Benzinga Edge Stock Rankings. You can see how it compares to Snap, Alphabet, and other companies by clicking here.