According to Beating Monitor, ByteDance has issued, for the first time, standalone stock options tied to a specific business unit. According to the Financial Times, to guard against poaching by competitors such as Tencent, ByteDance recently granted employees of its AI lab, Seed, low-priced special stock options named “Doubao,” enabling them to directly benefit from the growth of its AI business without being diluted by equity structures across other divisions within the company. This option plan marks ByteDance’s first issuance of special equity linked exclusively to a single business unit. As competition for talent in China’s large model sector intensifies, core engineering roles in infrastructure and data annotation have become prime targets. Since establishing the Seed lab in 2023, ByteDance has become NVIDIA’s largest customer in China through massive investments in computing infrastructure, attracting numerous top AI researchers. However, since Tencent acknowledged its lag in large model development by the end of 2025, it has launched an aggressive, targeted recruitment drive led by former OpenAI researcher Yao Shunyu. Recently departed senior members from Seed’s visual platform, Xiao Xuefeng, and infrastructure expert Zhang Chi, have both joined Tencent. To counter poaching, ByteDance this month offered global Seed employees the option to purchase Doubao special shares at $13 per share—a nearly 30% increase from $10 per share at the end of 2025—reflecting improvements in Doubao’s commercialization and model performance. While the option scheme promises substantial potential returns, internal controversy persists. Some insiders reveal that the Seed lab has grown to 2,000 employees and now faces challenges of bureaucratic bloat and fragmented responsibilities. In contrast, Tencent’s AI team remains smaller and offers researchers greater autonomy, managerial responsibilities, and more attractive compensation packages. Beyond Tencent, DeepSeek is also under intense pressure in the talent war and is currently raising its first round of funding to retain its core team. Meanwhile, ByteDance successfully poached several of DeepSeek’s core infrastructure personnel in 2025.
ByteDance grants seed unit stock options to prevent talent loss to Tencent
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Summary
ByteDance has launched a new incentive program for AI Seed Lab employees to help prevent talent loss to competitors such as Tencent. The company is offering "DouBao" stock options at $13 per share, the first such plan tied to a specific business unit. This initiative targets key contributors in the AI field, as Tencent intensifies its efforts to recruit staff from the Seed Lab. With competition intensifying, options market dynamics are evolving, and leading firms are adjusting their compensation strategies. Despite these incentives, internal challenges such as role fragmentation persist. For now, the altcoins to watch may shift as major companies compete for dominance in AI.
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