High-flying internet firms, including Tencent and Kuaishou, hand out stock and other bonuses ahead of Lunar New Year amid competition for top talent
- Tencent and Kuaishou are giving some workers 100 shares of stock worth thousands of dollars ahead of the Lunar New Year as tech firms compete for talent
- Huawei and gaming companies like Lilith Games and Yoozoo also offer bonuses and incentives in stark contrast to other industries hurting from the pandemic
Chinese tech companies, including Tencent Holdings, Kuaishou and Huawei Technologies Co, are rewarding employees with bonuses ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday in a bid to retain talent in an industry that heated up during the stay-at-home economy spurred by the Covid-19 pandemic last year.
Now the company behind the hit short video app Kuaishou, which just had its initial public offering this month, is also giving some employees 100 shares of stock, according to Chinese news outlet Jiemian. The shares are worth HK$39,800 based on Thursday’s closing price.
Kuaishou did not respond to a request for comment.
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Chinese telecoms equipment maker Huawei also confirmed to the Post that it is offering employees stock dividends at 1.86 yuan per share. The total payout amounts to about 40 billion yuan (US$6.2 billion), according to the same Jiemian report.
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Some companies are also using other types of bonuses to entice workers. In the video games industry, project-based bonuses for developers of hit titles could amount to millions of yuan.
Lilith Games, an up-and-coming Shanghai-based gaming studio, will reportedly divide the 190 million yuan in profit from the new game AFK Arena among the members of the team responsible for it, according to Chinese state-owned media outlet Time Weekly.
The generosity of high-flying tech firms is in stark contrast with other industries. According to a survey from Chinese recruitment site Zhaopin, only 27.6 per cent of white-collar professionals surveyed said they received a bonus in 2020. The average bonus for white-collar workers was 7,826 yuan last year, an 18 per cent decline from 2019, according to the survey.