Chinese giant HNA to axe 100,000 jobs, quarter of its workforce, says report
Private conglomerate planning the cuts this year amid a liquidity squeeze, Risk Event-Driven and Distressed Intelligence has reported, citing five unidentified sources
HNA Group, the Chinese private conglomerate, is planning to cut 100,000 jobs or about a quarter of its global workforce this year amid a liquidity squeeze, Risk Event-Driven and Distressed Intelligence (REDD), the emerging markets news website, has reported, citing five unidentified sources.
Job cuts of that scale would rank among the biggest ever for any single company.
The heavily indebted Chinese giant plans to eliminate jobs in areas such as human resources, business operations and asset restructuring, REDD reported, citing the people.
The axe will also fall on units that HNA is planning to sell and the group has informed staff at its home base of Haikou, Hainan province, about the reduction plan, according to the report.
Employees at HNA’s aviation arm could be spared, as the business has been recruiting, REDD reported. A representative at HNA could not immediately comment.
Financial pressure has been intensifying on HNA after it spent tens of billions of dollars to snap up global assets from Manhattan buildings to hotels.
[HNA’s liquidity problem exists] because we made a big number of mergers [ … as China’s economy] transitioned from rapid to moderate growth