Chinese delivery giant Meituan axes jobs at core departments as lay-offs in tech sector deepen
- Up to 20 per cent of Meituan’s staff in core business units, including food and grocery deliveries have been affected
- The lay-offs come just a few days after Meituan informed the internet regulator that it had added a net 17,000 jobs from July 2021 to mid-March 2022
Meituan’s lay-off plan covers its core business units, including food and grocery deliveries, restaurant reviews, hotel reservations, community buying and financial services, two people familiar with the situation told the South China Morning Post.
Meituan did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The information from the sources, who declined to be named, confirmed an earlier report on Chinese media Caixin. According to the report, about 10 to 20 per cent of the staff at these business units were to be fired.
The redundancies comes in the wake of Meituan’s announcement that it had added a net 17,000 jobs from July 2021 to mid-March 2022. Meituan is one of the 12 Chinese internet companies which have been asked to brief the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) about their workforce situation during the period, after stories of sackings by former employees mushroomed on the internet.
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According to a statement from CAC on Friday, the 12 platforms, including Alibaba Group Holding, Tencent Holdings and Meituan, actually created net jobs during the period. While they jointly let go of 216,800 workers, they also hired some 295,900.
The regulator’s statement comes amid growing concerns that Beijing’s ongoing harsh crackdown on the tech sector has damaged the sector’s growth outlook and consequently job creation.