TikTok Owner ByteDance To Lay Off Staff, Close Education Businesses Over New China Tutoring Rules: Report

<p>TikTok owner ByteDance has told its employees that it plans to give the pink slip to staff in its education business, Reuters reported Thursday. The move comes after China imposed sweeping regulations on the private tutoring sector.</p> <p>ByteDance told its staff that it plans to lay off teachers, sales, and advertising employees in its education business, the Reuters report said, quoting "two sources".</p> <p><strong>READ | <a title="Vodafone Idea Shares Take Massive Hit, Slip 15% After KM Birla Steps Down" href="https://ift.tt/3ftW4Fp" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Vodafone Idea Shares Take Massive Hit, Slip 15% After KM Birla Steps Down</a></strong></p> <p>To comply with the regulations, the report said, ByteDance will also shut down its preschool and k12 tutoring businesses in China.</p> <p>ByteDance has not given any official comment on this.</p> <p>China announced sweeping new rules last month, which barred for-profit tutoring on the school curriculum. The move aimed to boost the country's birth rate by lowering family living costs, the government claimed.</p> <p>The rules, however, have left a significant impact on private education firms &mdash; a $120 billion industry on which investors had bet billions of dollars in recent years, another Reuters report pointed out.</p> <p>The new rules mandate that all private institutions offering tutoring in core school subjects are to be registered as non-profit organizations, and the government will not grant any new licenses.</p>